The Badger Collective
by bazzer
Summary: The Final Battle is heading south, fast. A last ditch effort is made by the Trio to right the wrongs of the past but things don't go exactly as planned. The problem? Well, they probably shouldn’t have sent Ron. Hufflepuff!Harry HPDG GWDM Hr/?
1. Chapter 1

Alright.

Hi Folks! This is my first HP fic, and it has been awhile since I've actually sat down and typed something up. And by a while I'm talking the last time I posted I was about to enter high school and now I'm a third year in college. (7 years?!)

Forewarning, I am not an English major. I am not a writer. I am a scientist under the guise of becoming a doctor. This is mostly written between chemistry classes and work when the desire to rip my own hair out from my complete dislike of anything on a molecular level drives me to seek outlets, ie fanfiction. Reading this stuff has been an amazing escape from reality since I was in grade school, and writing makes me feel productive so I thought I'd throw my hat in.

I write for me. I'm not trying to impress anyone with my skills (or lack thereof) but I would appreciate feed-back. I'm pre-med, I need constant validation so please let me know what you think.

Umm, what else?

This is an experimental fic for me, in term s of point of view. It starts out from Ron's but he is not the main character, nor will it stay in his POV.

Disclaimer: if I owed Harry Potter I would need to go to college, now would I? And I am a student, which means I don't even own a car, let alone Harry Potter & Co.

Now let's see what I've got, shall we?

HPHPHPHP

With all the strength in his legs Ron dove behind the crumbling section of brick and mortar that had previously been the northern wall of the Great Hall. He contorted his body sideways both to avoid the bright green curse and so that he could land in a roll, succeeding in both he came to a stop right next to his best friend of seven years.

Harry Potter had seen better days. Blood dripped steadily from the angry red scar above his right eye, leaving him partially blind in addition to the other cuts, burns and crushed bones that he suffered from. On his other side Hermione Granger appeared in a similar manner that Ron himself had, but lacking Ron's natural ability to fall correctly, was stopped only by tumbling into Harry, who muffled a curse. He made a move to grab his left shoulder, but stopped half-way. He paled, bit his bottom lip and slammed his head back against the wall.

"Harry-!" Her hands fluttered in a worried fashion, eyes flicking to Ron who kept his gaze on Harry.

"You alright, mate?"

With a groan Harry shrugged the cloak from his left shoulder, revealing a sight that made both of his friends sick. Where his arm should have met his torso there was nothing. The arm had been removed savagely and hotly based on the way the muscle and skin were charred black, bones were shattered and hanging precariously from bits of tendon and cartilage.

Hermione forced herself to look at things logically, it was cold and impersonal but it seemed to be the only thing that kept her from running far and fast in the other direction. "It's not bleeding that badly, the spell must have been extremely hot in order to cauterize the wound as it happened, which is probably the only reason that you haven't bled to death yet."

Ron paled, but managed not to throw up again. All around them friends, allies and enemies were fighting. They were dying. Harry was dying. He had to turn his head as Hermione cast a mild pain numbing charm on Harry, then super-heated her wand to finish cauterizing the wound. He saw to the left of them Susan Bones and Neville Longbottom dueling a man in tell-tale dark robes, but he couldn't tell who was winning.

"Harry, mate, I don't know about you, but I think now would be the time to begin implementing Plan B," he turned back to them, forcibly ignoring the smell of burning flesh.

"Ron," his jaw clenched, and the words were forced out painfully, "Even if there was a 'Plan B' I think it's long past the time to implement it."

"So, we're stuffed is what you're saying."

"No." Ron caught Hermione's sharp look as Harry let his eyes go out off focus. "No, we may not have a Plan B, but we do have a Contingency Plan 4."

"NO!" Hermione shook her head violently, "There is no way you have the strength to attempt that!" Confusion blossomed in the redhead's chest. As far as he knew there was no other plan but the first, disastrous one. He watched silently as his two best mates spoke without words, and was pleasantly surprised by the sudden lack of jealousy.

"I know that Hermione," the black-haired wizard reached out with his right hand and grasped her wringing ones, stopping their motion, "Which is why you're going to take Ron and send him."

Hermione looked surprised at the suggestion, like the thought to use Ron for a back-up plan had never crossed her mind. Ron didn't blame her though; he was pretty surprised by the idea as well. The redhead found himself under the scrutiny of the other two, and none of them flinched as the wall behind them shuddered under spell-fire. Hermione looked calculating and Ron realized that even though she was looking at him she probably wasn't _seeing_ him, as her mind was trying to figure out if it could work. Harry, however, was offering him a half-smirk that was beginning to become signature.

"You sure about this, Harry? Do you really think that whatever the plan is, that it's going to work?"

Both green and blue eyes flicked to the spot on Harry's torso where his left arm should have been attached. "I don't think we have much of a choice, Ron. We screwed up somewhere and this may be the only way to fix it. The only was to make things the way they are supposed to be."

Ron felt his resolve steeling as Hermione started to nod, "This could work," she was frowning, biting at her bottom lip, "It'll be a bit trickier because Ron's not as prepared as you are, but he doesn't need much instruction." She nodded once more, more for herself than either one of her boys, "Alright I'll make sure the way is clear, Ron, you help Harry-"

"No." Harry shook his head, "Me coming with you will only slow you down and you'd have to waste time and power protecting me."

"But Harry-!"

"No, 'Mione."

She looked at Ron distraughtly, "Ron, talk some sense into him!"

But Ron wasn't looking at her; his entire conscience was focused on Harry. Neither blinked, neither breathed. Finally Ron rolled his jaw and gave his best friend a short nod, which Harry returned with that near-famous half smirk. "It's a Queen's Sacrifice, Hermione. With Harry causing a distraction, we'll be able to get away and do what needs to be done, with minimal risk."

She was glaring at him, incensed by his betrayal and opened her mouth to show her displeasure. Ron, perhaps for the first time in his short life, didn't take the bait and ignored her, "I won't let you down, mate." He reached out and placed his hand on Harry's right shoulder.

The green-eyed wizard grinned, "I never thought you would, Ron. It's not for nothing."

Ron matched his grin with his lips, but neither smiled with their eyes, "It's never for nothing."

Harry was going to die. They had all thought about it, hell, they'd even made plans around it once, but they'd never thought they'd see the moment before the moment it happened. Ron didn't know if he'd be as calm as Harry was when his moment came, but he knew that the man he held in higher regard than anyone else on the planet wouldn't go into it any other way.

Between them Hermione shuddered, and drew her hand to her face to hide the tears that fell. Ron realized starkly that in the seven years that the three had known each other, Hermione was the only one who had never left Harry. They had had their fights and split paths several times in the past, but the bushy-haired witch had also been on Harry's side in mind, spirit and focus. She was always unceasingly working towards ensuring Harry would live past all of the stupid things he got himself into.

Now she was sending him to his death.

"Hey, look at me," Harry gently pulled her hands from her face and nudged her chin with his fingers, encouraging her to look him in the eye, "this isn't the end." He smiled crookedly, "I'll see you on the other side of this rabbit hole."

Through her tears, she offered him a similar half-smile, "Would you tell me, please," she quoted, "which way I ought to go from here."

He touched her cheek, trying to stop the flow of tears, "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."

She reached up and grasped his hand between her own, "Oh, I don't much care where."

Harry winced at the trail of his blood that he left along her cheekbone, "Then it doesn't matter much which way you go."

"… So long as I get somewhere."

"Oh, you're sure to do that, if only you walk long enough."

She reached to him, cupping her hands around his cheeks and touched her forehead against his, "You promise me that you'll be on the other side."

"You won't even have to look for me. I'll be right beside you."

"Swear it."

"I swear."

They stared at each other for a few more moments as Ron kneeled to the side, slightly awed by the love between the two. He knew beyond a doubt that the bond was more familial than romantic and was suddenly and immensely glad that these two had one another in this world where they were otherwise alone, one orphaned by death and the other by separation.

Behind him Ron heard a high-pitched scream and he shuddered as his mind told him how much it sounded like Hannah Abbot.

With that, Hermione realized that they didn't have much time. Quickly she rolled back onto the balls of her feet, kissed Harry on the forehead (directly on the still bleeding lightning-shaped scar) and helped him stand in a somewhat hunched manner so that he was still crouched behind the half-demolished wall.

Ron stood beside them. He clapped Harry on his good shoulder as the dark-haired wizard did the same to him and Hermione hugged them both around their middles. The Golden Trio.

Harry stepped back first. He picked up his fallen wand and with tears in his eyes said, "On my signal, get the hell out of here. The Anti-Apparation wards are down. Get to the Chamber and fix this."

He sighed, steeled himself, "I love you guys," and with a loud _crack! _was gone.

The sounds of explosions, screams and the wet thud of bludgeoning cruses seemed to get louder and louder. Harry's arrival was nearly drowned out and his attacks were almost as quite. Hermione folded herself into Ron and he wrapped his arms around her tightly. On the other side of the wall and loud explosion seemed to rock Hogwarts to her very foundation. A slow, short lull in the noise followed.

And then…

"Boy."

"Hello, Tom."

"You have to know that you cannot beat me, and yet here you stand, prepared to do battle."

"Sometimes it's not about winning, Tom. Sometimes it's just about the willingness to fight."

"Then let us fight."

"Let's."

Ron held Hermione tighter to himself, and the noise of his Side-Along Apparation was drowned out by the blast of the two enemies' attacks hitting each other.

They appeared in Salazar's Chamber of Secrets, safely hidden by the rotting coils of the Basilisk. Ron released his friend, "Tell me what I need to do."

"Harry and I came up with a couple of different plans in case something went awry. Contingency Plan 4 is pretty much the Ultimate Do-Over; it was the last course of action if everything went wrong."

"Hermione, just tell me what to do."

"Ron, give me a break here, this could change everything and I don't even know if it's going to work. I mean it's supposed to work, we did all the research and in theory it works, but no one can ever say for sure."

Ron swallowed hard, "Why not?"

"Because it can change _everything_. Ron, I'm sending you back in time and whatever you do while you're there has the potential to change anything and everything that comes after." She looked at him, judging how he felt about that. After a few seconds, he nodded. "Good, you can't be wishy-washy about this, you need to be confident. There is a spell that I'm going to perform and a potion that I have here," she pulled a small, unbreakable phial from her pocket and handed it to him. "You drink this and I perform the spell, while I'm chanting you need to think of the _exact _moment in time you want to go back to."

"When do you want me to go back to?"

"Harry and I agreed to last year, before he and Dumbledore left to retrieve the fake locket. I'm not sure how much time you have, but you need to find them, tell them the locket they are about to get is a fake, that Dung has the real one and that Malfoy is going to let Death Eaters into the school that night. When you go back your mind now will fuse with your body then and you some indiscernible amount of time, until your body then will kick your mind now out and force back to your body now, in what ever reality comes from your actions."

"Right, easy as cake."

"Pie," she corrected automatically.

"What?"

"Easy as pie, the saying is 'easy as pie'."

He gave her a confused look, "I thought it was 'piece of pie'."

"No, that's 'piece of cake'."

He rolled his eyes at her and groaned exasperatedly, "Muggles."

Faintly bemused she smiled weakly at him, "Sometimes I wonder what happened to those pure little innocent kids that got on the train seven years ago, and then you open your mouth and butcher simple sayings like that and I wonder if we've even changed at all."

He grinned, not at all upset by the jab, proof enough of growth, "You're still a bushy-haired know-it-all."

"And you're still a big-eared little boy with the mentality of a five-years-old and the emotional range of a teaspoon."

"You grew up to be one of the bravest people I've ever met and a more loyal friend than I could have ever deserved."

"And you're more cunning than you let on, and smarter than I'd care to admit."

"And to think, that scrawny kid in the broken glasses and clothes big enough to live in would be-"

"The greatest wizard of all of us."

He touched her on the shoulder, "He's going to be okay, I'll fix this."

"I know, Ron, I trust you. Are you ready?" He nodded and she motioned for him to drink the prepared potion. As she began chanting Ron couldn't help but think about that day on the train when he met the two people who have the greatest impact on his life.

All around the two of them the walls of the Chamber began to shake and immense cracks formed in the mortar, but for the most part this went unnoticed. Ron grabbed at his chest as he felt a pain not unlike a stab wound with a spear. He opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out and then with the whisper of sand sliding against itself he was gone.

HPHPHPHPHP

When Ron blinked back into consciousness he realized he was in the middle of a sentence. Across from him a scrawny little boy with big green eyes hidden behind broken glasses blinked back. The red-head slammed his palm against his own forehead and shouted, "Bloody Hell!" To him it sounded like a high-pitched squeak and he clamped his hands to his mouth in surprise. If the little boy staring strangely at him wasn't enough proof the rest of it lay in his own hands. They were small, pale and heavily freckled, only slightly blistered from degnoming the garden and little games of pick-up quiddith with his brothers and sister. In short, they were the hands of a small eleven-year old fledgling wizard, not the scarred ones of a seventeen year old warrior.

He swore again, not even bothering to be surprised at his own stupidity. He had fucked up. Royally.

He had _promised! _Dammit!

Reminding himself of his promise also poised him to remember Hermione's warning that everything he did here has the possibility to change things in the future, a future that he has to return to. Across from him Harry Potter sat and looked more than a bit frightened by the sudden mood swing of his new-found companion. It took Ron a moment to reconcile this small, scared boy with the force he would become, if Ron didn't screw it up.

"Look, Harry, I'm sorry about that, but I – uh, that is to say, um," he thought fast. The Harry to come is very skeptical about just about anything, but this one here, this one hasn't been battered around by enemies posed as friends and teachers, yet. He is still mind wide open about magic, and even though his up-bringing has him feeling like all of this may be too good to be true, he'll listen and take things in that not even his aware of. "Harry, I'm going to tell you a secret, and I need you to keep it to yourself for a little while and when the time is right, and you'll know when it is, I need you to remember this. In our sixth year Dumbledore, he's our headmaster, he's going 

to go looking for something, -Horcruxes, Harry!-, only it's not going to be where he thinks it is! It's back at the house! Better yet, at the house there is this locket, see, and it's got this S on it-!"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"The future, Harry!"

"You know the future?" his skepticism was almost palpable, and Ron felt the fraying edges of panic. "What are you? Some kind of Seer?"

Ron blinked, "That's not really important. What is important is that Malfoy is a no-good Death Eater and –"

"Don't you know that it's rude to speak slander of people, especially when they aren't around to defend themselves, Weasel?"

And that was when Ron Weasley lost it. The pitch was high, much higher that he knew it would be, but the sneer in the voice would never change. In Ron's mind Draco Malfoy was a Death Eater. He let other psychopathic Death Eaters into Hogwarts. His actions led to the deaths of Dumbledore, Fred, Percy, Harry and so many others. He deserved to die, but Ron knew his body now did not have the magic to do much in the way of pain and the wand he held now was old and held together by spell-o-tape.

So he did something that he'd wanted to do since Hermione had done it to the blonde in their third year. He reeled his fist back and punched Draco Malfoy as hard as he could in the nose.

Beneath his knuckles he felt cartilage break and blood begin to pour freely. Draco's eyes rolled back as he collapsed on the ground, behind him Miniatures Crabbe and Goyle blinked stupidly at him. Ron felt a sharp pain in his chest, not unlike a spear wound, and he felt the righteous anger subside he felt something like panic and resignation settle in his chest. He wasn't sure what he had done to the future, but it couldn't be any worse than the one has had come from.

As the walls of his compartment on the Hogwarts Express began to shake and crack Ron took to ignoring the shouts coming from the hall as people came out to see what the ruckus was. The redhead sighed and prepared himself to be forced back into the future he had created; he did not look back at Harry and thus missed the look of gravest distaste upon the smaller boy's face.

Ron Weasley had just proved himself as a bully and Harry Potter did not like bullies.

HPHPHPHPHP

The next time Ron blinked back into his own body, he really was coming back from unconsciousness. He blinked as two or three blurry shapes hovered above him, talking quietly. Blue skies framed them, and Ron pressed his eyes closed tightly to stop the sun from cracking open his brain. He could hear a collective murmuring like a large mass of people was carrying on hundreds of conversations on the other side of a wall. But there were no screams, no curses and the air smelled of recently stopped rain not blood and death.

"Come on there, Weasley, up and at 'em, I know you didn't hit the ground that hard." The voice sounded familiar but was muffled behind the buzzing in his ears.

An exasperated groan sounded from the left of him, "Good job, Potter, you broke my brother."

Potter? Harry? Ron moaned. That sounded a lot like Ginny. But different, lighter.

"Did not, Nix. He's the one that decided the best way to avoid my bludger was to roll off his broom at 15 meters up. Hey, he's coming to!"

Ron blinked once more, eyes opening to find that his headache had not abated, but was now manageable. A red-haired blob hovered over his left, which he assumed to be Ginny, and on his right was a dark-haired blob that he took to be Harry, but who didn't sound like Harry. "Harry?"

The figure laughed, a light carefree laugh that Ron couldn't remember hearing from the guy before, "Sorry, Gin, but maybe I did break him." The figure on the left giggled and they both helped Ron sit up. He blinked rapidly, trying to get his vision to clear. "On first-name basis are we, Ronnie-Boy? Well alright, I can play that game too." He waved two figures in Ron's face. "How many do you see?"

Ron shook his head and regretted it immediately, but he could see. He was sitting on one end of the school's Quidditch pitch, his broom was some feet away behind his sister on his left. Ginny looked the same, but somehow, in some unnamable manner, different. She looked sleek and strong, and power swelled behind her eyes despite the smile on her face and her short size. She was dressed in her Gryffindor Quidditch robes, and looking down so was he. "What happened?"

"Took a dive off your broom to avoid the bludger I sent your way. Not a very smart move, but it seemed effective, I suppose, seeing as it wasn't what hit you. Now, come on, how many fingers, Weasley?"

Ron tried to focus on him. It was Harry alright, same face and eyes, but there was something so fundamentally _wrong_ with him that Ron couldn't even figure it out right away. "Um, four?"

Harry laughed, "Close enough." He turned towards the middle of the pitch where Ron saw the rest other people in Gryffindor Quidditch robes and others in yellow and black. "He's alive," Harry yelled in a jovial manner, "but I think Madam Pomfrey might want to take a look, I think he has a concussion." He turned back to Ron. "Pity, Weasley, this was actually a fun game."

Ron felt something click. He was getting faint, panic surging deep in his chest. _What the hell did I do? Why is he calling me Weasley and…_ "Harry?"

The boy in question looked bemused and somewhat pitying, "Yeah?"

"Why are you wearing Hufflepuff robes?"

And he surged forward, Ginny barely escaping her brother getting sick on her. She shared a wide-eyed look with Harry, who turned back to the pitch, "Madam, quickly!"

Ron passed out.

HPHPHPHPHP

Haha, well that was exciting. Right?

Let me know what you all think. Please?


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own anything except the laptop I'm writing on.

So, um, ouch.

!!

_Harry whistled quietly as he walked down the halls of Hogwarts. He couldn't seem to help it; he was, perhaps for the first time he could remember, happy and content with his life. Coming into the magical school felt like coming home. He was learning the things that his parents had learned, he could do magic and fly, and he had _friends_. He was just shy of two months into his first year, but he could tell that this was where he was meant to be, this was who he was._

_He was walking towards the Great Hall for the Halloween feast with Gregory Goyle of Slytherin of all people, coming from a tutoring session in the library. The mammoth first year didn't speak much, he never seemed to pay attention in class (or anywhere else for that matter) and he didn't seem to have the intelligence to string two words together, but Harry was pleasantly surprised by what Greg actually was. He was partially deaf, which was why he looked at people funnily when they spoke to him, he was trying to read their lips to supplement what he lost when they spoke too fast for him to hear. His family was twelfth generation on his father's side, but only four on his mothers, and his favorite aunt on his mother's side was a squib married to a muggle-born, so while he was often thought to be a pure-blood fanatic (the label came with the green and silver patch on his robes) blood never really seemed all that important._

_He also knew more about magical creatures than Harry thought possible for an eleven-year old. His love of creatures was an easy match for Harry's overall love of magic. So while Harry helped him with his essays and some transfiguration and charms, Greg integrated Harry into the world of mythical beasts and taught him what sign language he knew._

_They were late for the feast, but Harry was confident that if nothing else Susan and Hannah would save him something to eat. He had bonded surprisingly fast with his two female house-mates, and they had taken it upon themselves to act as his caretakers and guardians. _

_They were passing the girls lavatory on the second floor when Harry paused, he could have sworn he heard something. Greg stopped several steps ahead and turned back to Harry with a confused look. Harry held up one finger,_ wait, _and then tapped his left ear with another finger,_ listen._ Greg shifted his eyes, listening intently for a moment, then he narrowed them, also hearing something. He cocked his head to the side in an unasked question._

_Harry frowned and dropped his hands, "Someone's crying."_

_Greg stomped his foot and Harry realized that he had spoken too softly for the Slytherin to hear and in the other direction so his lips couldn't be read. He looked at Greg; he could see the frustration plainly on his face and wondered how Goyle would turn out if no one took the time to help the boy. "Someone is crying in the loo." He spoke louder and shaped the words with his mouth. Greg nodded in understanding, looked around and gestured for Harry to enter the bathroom first._

!!

When Ron finally woke up again it was three days later and to the face of his mother. He couldn't help it. He screamed.

The last time he'd seen her she'd been dueling Death Eaters in a Hogwart's courtyard, she looked to be winning, but you never knew how things would turn out once you turned in the other direction.

"Mum!" he threw his arms around her, once he got over his initial shock, tears rising unbidden to his eyes. To say Molly Weasley was shocked would be a gross understatement. Ever since her youngest son had returned from his first year he'd shied away from her hugs, vehemently stating he was too old to be coddled and he absolutely did not initiate them. But Molly was also one to never look a gift Hippogriff in the mouth, so she hugged back with all her might, almost six years of pent up mothering overwhelming her.

It wasn't until her youngest boy wheezed out a "Mum, need – air!" that she released him. He coughed feebly and Molly waved her hands about worriedly, wanting to help him but not knowing how long this good mood of his was going to last.

Ron, for his part, was just as concerned but for severely different reasons. His memories of what had happened were forefront on his mind and he was beginning to get scared. He was in a world that he knew nothing about, a world that was so different from his own that he didn't know what to do with it. He looked at his mother. She was watching him with watery eyes, she looked haggard and worried, but not the type that came from fighting a war. It was what she had always looked like that to him; it was the look of a woman who had raised seven children, six of them boys. She was plumper, but her eyes were more vibrant, more expressive and her hair was a brighter red than he remembered.

She continued to wring her hands in a manner that reminded him sharply of Hermione, with a pang he looked around and noticed that besides his mother and Madam Pomfrey (who was treating a younger year a few beds down) no one was in the room but him.

His friends weren't there. Harry and Hermione weren't there.

His mother, seeming to read his train of thought, smiled in a slightly relived manner, "Your friends stayed as long as they could, dear, but it _is_ Tuesday, and they had to get to class."

Ron blinked, "Tuesday?"

The red-headed matron nodded sympathetically, "Yes, you were out for almost three days. Poppy was beginning to get worried, no one thought you had hit the ground that hard, but you're sister mentioned you said you were saying some queer things and then you wouldn't wake up."

"Hit the ground? What happened?"

"You don't remember?" Both Weasleys jumped as the Mediwitch seemed to appear out of no where with her question. Ron realized his precarious situation. By saying no, he would be making his accident seem worse than it really was, it was the truth but his memory loss was not a result of a header to the turf, it was because this wasn't his life. He remembered Hermione's speeches from after third year and her warnings about messing with a time line. He also didn't want to give up too much of his hand, lest they see him fit to be carted off to St. Mungo's.

He went with the safer route, "Uh, no. Everything is a little fuzzy."

He gazed at him critically. Ron resisted to urge to fidget and wondered how the hell Harry dealt with it as often as he did. Finally she nodded, "Well, that's to be expected. Head wounds can be tricky, but I expect your memory should return to you within a couple of days. If it doesn't let me know, but we won't worry about it until it's something to worry about." She smiled kindly at him and offered him an anti-head-ache potion.

He took it and swallowed it in a single gulp, all the while keeping an eye on the iron-gray haired witch. She looked like Madam Pomfrey, talked like her and walked like her. But what happened to the animated she-demon that guarded the infirmary like a watered-down Fluffy? What happened to the woman who was all business and no smiles, whose sense of humor meant hanging a bronze plaque over the sixth bed on the southern wall saying 'Property of Harry Potter'?

Reflexively he looked at 'Harry's' bed, as he did every time he entered the Hospital Wing, and had to do a double-take. Hanging over the sixth bed from the door on the wall opposite him was a bronze plaque. He could barely make out the words, but in truth he didn't need to.

'Property of Harry Potter'

Ron smiled faintly as a tension he didn't know he had slowly uncoiled itself from between his shoulder blades. Some things would never change, and he took solace in that knowledge. His mother appeared next to him, one of his uniforms and school robes folded neatly in her hands.

He smiled as he took it from her, and then entered one of the changing rooms at the far end of the infirmary. As he was coming out he saw his mother putting on her coat and preparing herself to leave.

"Where are you going, mum?"

She looked up, startled at the sincerity in his voice, "Home, dear. Minerva fire-called me yesterday to tell me about your accident and I've been here since. I wanted to be here when you woke up, and you're awake so I should be getting back."

Ron shifted awkwardly from foot to foot, "Well, couldn't you, um, I dunno, stay for lunch or something?"

She gave him a strange look like she was trying to figure out the angle, raising seven little hellions made it automatic. But his face and eyes were open and sincere, and in response her face morphed into a tender look as she surged forward to hug him once more. "Oh, I'm sure you don't really want to eat with your mother when all of your friends are there. Don't worry, dear," she smoothed down his hair with some difficulty (he _was_ almost a foot taller than her), "I really must be getting back home, and I just know that the Burrow would fall down around his ears if your father were left in charge for too long."

He nodded his understanding and offered to walk her to the Entrance Hall on his way to the Great Hall for lunch. With a wave of permission from the Mediwitch Ron Weasley left the Infirmary and entered a world he knew next to nothing about.

!!

Before he entered the Hall for lunch, Ron stood in an alcove opposite it in order to orient himself. He had already decided to play up his injury, so that if he were to act out of character or forget certain 'facts' of this world he could blame the bump on his head. Looking into the Hall he had to forcibly work the surprise out of his system.

The House tables were set up the same as he had known them. Gryffindor was on the far right, then Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin on the far left and the Staff table on the wall opposite the doors, so that wasn't the cause of his concern. It was the absolute amount of intermixed colors at all _four _tables. In his own world very seldom did a member of one house drift to sit at the table of another, and even then it was usually a 'Puff or a 'Claw, but here that didn't seem to be the case. The tables were still dominated by a general color, but each table had some mixing of red and gold, green and sliver, bronze and blue, and yellow and black.

And in the middle of the biggest group of mixed students sat Harry Potter, proud in yellow and black.

Ron pinched himself, but the vision didn't change.

Harry was in Hufflepuff.

What the hell had he _done?!_

!!

Harry Potter sat across from Sue Bones of his own house, next to Millie Bulstrode of the Snake House and cattycorner to Neville Longbottom of the House of Lions discussing Stunner techniques.

"The Beta twist is the only method used by Aurors, and you're saying that you could do better?" Susan, whose entire family was somehow involved with the DMLE, took it as a personal slight.

Harry smacked his forehead with his palm, "I didn't say better, I said it could be improved upon. It's true that the Beta twist gives the strongest Stunners, but the angle your wand is left at leaves you at a disadvantage. By taking out the twist and instead flicking at 15 degrees left, yeah you lose some power-"

"Like 12 percent," Neville interjected, and Susan nodded emphatically next to him. On his other side Neville's girlfriend of almost three years, Hannah Abbot, rolled her eyes and continued to quiz Luna Lovegood for her potions test next period. She had long since accepted the fact that her boyfriend and best friend would never learn when it came to arguing with Harry and Millie.

Harry rolled his eyes, but Millie finished for him, "Yeah, but look at the position your wand would be at. What we're saying is that you lose some power but you're suddenly in perfect position to start a high-powered cutting hex."

Sue and Neville looked at one another, "Are you talking about chaining spells?"

Harry shrugged, "Yeah, your spells may be marginally weaker, but you gain so much time when you no longer have to stop and re-orient yourself between movements. Just let one flow directly into the next."

"And," Millie looked sly, "If you mince languages you can cut your speaking in half. Gains time and confuses your opponent."

The Gryffindor boy sighed, lent back and slipped his arm around Hannah's shoulders, "Well, Sue, I think we officially lost that argument."

The red-headed Badger nodded weakly, "Why is it we never seem to win when those two agree on something?"

Across the table, Harry winked at her to which she replied by sticking out her tongue. Her housemate and possible best (male) friend laughed until he was pulled into a conversation with Millie and Hermione Granger (who sat on his other side) about the ramifications of language on spell casting.

Susan sighed, on her one side Neville had joined Hannah in helping Luna (and now Andrew Harper of Slytherin) go over potions, on the other side Padma Patil was shuffling through transfiguration notes for the test at the end of the week. Near the end of the table Blaise Zabini, Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, and Anthony Goldstein were flicking a piece of parchment folded into a triangle at each other and through the doors to the Great Hall Ron Weasley stood, looking like he was steeling himself for a fight.

Choosing to trust in Harry (and hope he would go for level-headed) rather than give into panic, Susan kicked her friend under the table. He stopped mid-sentence, which caused the entire conversation to halt and drew the attention from the entire group onto Harry and Susan, whom Harry looked at with a confused and faintly bemused look, "Um, ow?"

She rolled her eyes at him, but nodded towards the doors that Weasley has just walked through. Harry flicked his eyes toward the entrance and grimaced. He looked around at his friends, the people that mattered most to him in the world, and he noticed the way that they all had their hands either on their wands or in a position which could have their wands in their hand in a matter of seconds. They were ready for a fight, and Ron Weasley had never disappointed before. Across from him Susan shook her head, "It was a legal move, Harry, he's got nothing on you."

He took her words with a nod, but noticed the way she casually twirled her yew wand between her fingers. He closed his eyes, and stretched his magic out in all directions, smiling at what he felt when it snap back to him. With a sigh he made a subtle and quick gesture with his hand and the people around him relaxed slightly and removed any obvious measures for a fight.

Harry stood, blinking open his eyes and turned to face Ron just as the redhead stopped by his seat.

"Look, Weasley, it was a fair game and a fair move, you have no reason to start anything."

Ron, far from looking pissed off as most everyone who knew him thought he would, just paused and looked at Harry from a slightly tilted point of view. To the dark haired Badger, Ron looked as lost and confused as his sister did when Harry found her on the train before his third year. He felt a pang in his chest and searched Ron's eyes, but found none of the malice or boastful pride that he had previously been full of.

This Ron was different from the one he shook hands with before the match Saturday morning, Harry was sure of it.

For his part, Ron was not feeling an ounce of the Gryffindor courage that was supposed to be his constant companion. "What?" His eyes unfocused in thought, then, "Oh, the Quidditch thing. No, I, uh, yeah it's was a legal move from what I was told of it. A Crawford Shift, right? I'll be sure to keep my eyes open for that in the future."

Harry pulled back slightly, quickly reoriented himself around the shift in the usual conversation pattern. "Oh, well," he flopped back in a seemingly careless manner, resting his back against the Hufflepuff table, but Ron wasn't fooled. He could see the way Harry tapped his fingers in a specific design with his right hand, waved small sparks of lightning between the fingers of his left, and how the people at his table responded to these actions. Harry grinned at Ron, "What can I do for you, Ronald?"

He felt the tips of his ears burn at his given name, "Uh," he looked at the people that surrounded his (former?) best mate. While no one was giving him outright hostile looks, no one was inviting him to sit either. There were Slytherins, Ravenclaws, 

Hufflepuffs and even some of Ron's own Gryffindors (he felt pride swell in his chest at the Head Girl Badge pinned just above the red and gold crest on Hermione's robe). "I was hoping to talk to you," Susan shifted behind Harry as both his hands stilled.

"Oh, I wasn't aware that there was anything that needed to be discussed between us."

This was not his friend Harry. While Ron was sure that this boy before him had the potential to become the warrior he had left behind in another reality, that the two were likely fundamentally the same, he was not Harry.

Nevertheless, Ron could not have changed reality that much. Harry was still The-Boy-Who-Lived, he was still the object of the prophecy, and he was the only one who could defeat Voldemort, wherever and whatever the bastard was. Ron had to do this diplomatically because he did not know the facts about this reality, but he could certainly make some assumptions, "Perhaps you aren't aware, but that doesn't change how things are. We need to have a conversation," he stated knowing he sounded more arrogant than confident, but lacking the time to care.

Three people separated Neville and Blaise as they stood at the same time to voice their objections.

"Like we're going to make it that easy for you, Weasley!"

"You've had it out for Harry since day one!"

But Padma and Hannah, their more level-headed counterparts, pulled them back down when Harry raised his eyebrows and grinned, "Well now, it would seem that perhaps we do have something to discuss."

It was the simple motion of smiling in a manner that caused his eyes to shine that Ron was suddenly stuck by the physical differences between his Harry and the one that sat in front of him. Before Ron was content to look at him and superimpose what he _knew_ Harry to look like over what was there. He couldn't do that anymore.

Harry wasn't wearing glasses. His hair was cut short enough to have lost that windblown look he'd inherited from his father, but could now be better controlled. Ron's eyes flicked almost instinctually to the lightning bolt shaped scar and realized that if he had not been looking for it, he probably would never have noticed it. A far cry from the open and bleeding wound that Ron had last seen it as, and even from the pink and fresh one that Ron was used to seeing for the last seven years, this scar was just that. Three thin white lines connected at right angles, it didn't look cursed and based on the way Harry was acting, it probably wasn't.

Before Ron could say anything, and indeed whatever he would have said was likely to incriminate himself, Millicent nudged Harry in the side whispering, "Incoming."

With a smoothness and strength Ron didn't expect from him, Harry reached out and grabbed the front of the Gryffindor's robes. He felt himself jerked quickly to the left just in time to see a red-headed blur slam into the bench he was previously standing in front of. He realized with a start that it was Ginny, mostly because of her hair and voice, but he could only pick up a few words from her lox, but fast mutterings.

"Stupid transfigurations, stupid McGonagall. Late! Fail this stupid quiz, fail potions, fail out of Hogwarts, have to work – Knockturn Alley! Gah!"

Ron blinked widely at his sister as she piled random food stuffs onto a plate without seeming to pay attention to what she was doing. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Harry and Hermione having a silent conversation with their eyes and a few small hand gestures, something he was all too familiar with.

Hermione then sighed as she reached behind Harry (who was still sitting backwards, facing Ron) and grabbed hold of Ginny's forearm. The younger girl startled at the touch but the brunette did not let go. She made sure to talk slowly and calmly, "Take a deep breath, Gin. You need to relax while you eat or you're going to make your self sick. You won't be late, you won't fail, and you won't have to take a job in Knockturn Alley. Sit down like a civilized person and eat, you can study with Luan and Drew and everything will be ok. OK?"

Ginny nodded, wide-eyed at her friend, and forced herself to calm down and slow her own breathing. Hermione kept her hand on Ginny as her eyes flicked to Harry with a question. The boy nodded, so Hermione squeezed her younger house-mate's arm, "Now say hello to your brother and ask him how he is."

"Why? What's wrong?" Whatever calm she had achieved flew out the proverbial window as she wretched her arm from Hermione and grabbed Harry by the cheeks, "Are you sick?"

She looked around in confusion as her friends at the table erupted in laugher, including the boy whose face she was holding as he gently took hold of her wrists. Behind Harry Blaise scoffed, "I think she was talking about your actual brother, not our communal one."

She made a move to flip him off but in the process came face-to-face with said _actual _brother, "Oh!"

Ron for his part was staring around at the people who continued to chortle and finally gazed at her only to see that she was watching _him_ with something like trepidation and some underlying anger. "Ron," her tone was slightly cold, unsure.

"Hey, Gin. How's it going?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head out of awkwardness.

She stepped back and regarded him warily, hands in front of herself as if in protection, "You must have hit your head harder than we thought," he blinked at her in question, "Uh, people were really worried that you wouldn't wake up."

"Yeah," he flushed, "That's what mum said."

Suddenly she couldn't meet his eyes, "Oh? How is she?" Ron didn't know what to make of the miserable tone in her voice but he had the desired to just reach out and hold her like he'd done when they were kids.

"RON!"

The siblings jumped at the loud high-pitched voice.

"Ron!"

Padma groaned and muttered, "Here comes Lav-Lav," to the amusement of the people around her.

Ron had barely turned in time to catch an armful of Lavender Brown, "Won-Won!" He flushed hotly in embarrassment as Harry and his group suddenly burst into loud laughter. Lavender pulled back, completely ignoring the noise around her, "We were just up in the Hospital Wing looking for you, but Madam Pomfrey said you had already left."

"Oh, yeah, I came down with my mum," behind her Ron could see Pavarti, Seamus, Dean, Michael Corner and a girl that looked familiar but whose name escaped him approach.

Seamus clapped him on the shoulder, then flicked his eyes over Harry's group with clear distain, "Glad you're better mate, but what the hell are you doing being seen talking to these weirdoes for?"

"Starting with the name-calling so early, Finnigan?" Padma sniffed, "What a neophyte."

The Irishman blazed, "what did you call me, slag!"

The dark Slytherin sitting next to the pretty Ravenclaw jumped to his feet, "Say that again, Mick!"

Before Ron could blink both boys had their wands drawn with the tips glowing bright. Ron grabbed Lavender around the waist and spun her out of the way, but he could see the way that several members of the group at the table had their wands drawn and posed for a fight. Behind Seamus only Michael had his wand drawn as the other three merely fingered their holsters nervously. He began to feel very sick.

Harry stood and loomed darkly before the mostly Gryffindor gang. With a shifting of his fingers Corner's wand reverted and tucked itself back into the pocket he'd pulled it from. The dark-haired 'Puff stood directly in front of the Irish Lion and purposely between him and the five wands pointed that way.

"Why don't you put that away before you attract any more attention and go get something to eat before Defense, Finnigan."

They stood toe-to-toe and Ron could see the cogs turning in his house-mates head, trying to figure out the best way to win this fight. From where he stood, Ron was pretty sure that was impossible.

Seamus apparently agreed.

He pushed Harry roughly in the chest but was more successful in moving himself than Harry, "Get out of my face, faggot."

"So, it's true then?"

The aristocratic voice was female and resigned, and Ron could see the way Harry's face went from serious and foreboding to bright and expressive. He turned from Seamus and Ron caught sight of a short girl with long dark tresses dressed in Slytherin robes. She stood with arms crossed over her chest and tapped her foot expectantly on the floor, but her amusement shown clearly in her eyes. Behind her was Draco Malfoy looking as smug and calculating as Ron had ever seen him. Almost unconsciously the red-head reached for his wand.

"Is what true?" Harry asked.

She nodded her head towards Seamus, "You cheating on me with this Gryffindor."

"Him?" Harry jerked his thumb back at the infuriated boy. "Nah, we both know Ced was more my type."

Before Ron's fingers could wrap around the handle of his only weapon he felt cold, slender fingers enfold over his wrist. He blinked and looked down in surprise as the Slytherin girl sighed dramatically, "I guess I owe Cho those ten galleons after all."

Ron supposed he expected to see Lavender, or even Hermione, as the one who stopped him. What he did not expect were the wide, luminous blue eyes of Looney Luna Lovegood watching him unblinkingly.

He missed Harry's reply but caught the motion of him reaching for the girl to press a kiss to her lips from the corner of his eye.

"Stay you instincts, Rook," she spoke softly, "Now is not the time to draw undue attention."

Not sure what possessed him to do so, Ron nodded and Luna untangled her fingers from his person. Ron returned to himself just in time to see Draco shooing his apparent friends over to the Gryffindor table. Lavender grabbed his hand and started to pull him over to the table, but he remembered quickly that he still needed to speak with Harry.

He told Lav that he'd be a minute and turned back to the Hufflepuff table just in time to see the Slytherin girl slid her hands though his best friend's hair and pull him by the back of the head into a kiss. Beside her Draco made a gagging sound as he slipped into the seat next to Ginny and stole a chip from her plate. On Harry's other side Hermione rolled her eyes and shifted so that Justin could rest his chin on her shoulder and read the book in front of them.

Quite suddenly, Ron wasn't hungry anymore.

Dean Thomas appeared beside him, "Kind of makes your heart hurt to think that some people really are that happy, huh?"

Ron startled at the voice, and forced himself to ignore the words and implications and instead focus on the profound sadness that seemed to melt from the darker boy's eyes and into his words, "Are you not happy, Dean?"

He shrugged, "Some days." He motioned weakly behind them where Michael was making wide gestures to punctuate whatever story he was telling, "You really should eat something, it's Dueling Day in Defense and you know how Snape is with us Gyrffs."

Ron groaned, "Why couldn't I have woken up tomorrow?" to which Dean laughed.

"You've never really been lucky, now have you?"

Ron could only shrug, because in reality he didn't actually know.

!!

_Inside of the bathroom, Harry found only one locked door and floating outside of it was a small female ghost with pigtails and ethereal Hogwarts robes. She was glaring at the closed stall and turned sharply as the two boys entered. _

"_What do you think you are doing!?" she shrieked, "This is the girls' toilet!"_

_Harry held his hands before him in a motion to show he meant no harm, "We heard a ruckus outside and came to see if everyone was alright."_

_The ghost sniffed in an irritated manner, "Well, of course not everyone is ok! Some of us are dead! Some of us have the right to be absolutely miserable!" and with that painful reminder she threw herself through the floor and out of the lavatory. _

_Harry raised an eyebrow at Greg but the bigger boy just shrugged, he understood animals not the unresolved spirits of emotionally unstable teenage girls. A small whimper sounded from the stall behind the locked door and Harry turned his attention back to it, "Are you alright in there?"_

_There was a pause and then a weak voice commanded him, "Go away, Harry."_

_He frowned, recognizing the voice from some of his classes. She was in Gryffindor, but had the knowledge of a Ravenclaw. She also sat alone during lunch and spent all her spare time in the library. He said hi to her in the hall, but had not had a real conversation with her since the train ride._

"_Hermione? What's wrong? You're missing the feast."_

"_I'm fine, please, just go away."_

"_Yeah, ok, because I believe that."_

"_Harry…"_

"_What do you think, Greg, should we leave her?"_

_Greg Goyle recognized the offer for what it was. Not that long ago Harry had made a choice to sit by a hulking silent Slytherin, and now he was going to make his own. "No," he sat down solidly, "We sit through feast here."_

_Harry smiled fondly at his friend, "Well put, Greg," and he too sat down. "Are you going to tell us what's wrong, or will you make us sit here throughout the whole feast, we are growing boys you know, need our energy and all that."_

_Greg patted his stomach loudly to emphasize Harry's words. Behind the door, there was a faint giggle. And then slowly the door creaked open and Hermione Granger emerged in all her bushy-haired glory, sniffling and rubbing at her eyes, "Ron Weasley said I was a know-it-all and that I would never make friends with anyone."_

_Harry looked back at Greg, pointed at the Slytherin, tugged at his ear then jerked a thumb back at the girl. Greg nodded sagely, "Silly girl does not know everything. Sits alone in toilet and cries, proves the jerk is right."_

"_Well, there you go. Greg says you don't know everything and I think the fact that we are both sitting in the middle of the girl's bathroom instead of eating a feast pretty much proves you have friends. So what do you say we go to the Great Hall and you can sit with us."_

"_Really?"_

"_Greg?"_

_The boy nodded quickly and stood with the help of both Harry and Hermione. He seemed to freeze and waved a hand to cut off the question from the Hufflepuff, "Something wrong. Smell is off. We go quickly, now." He ushered them out the door and with the speed that he thought necessary towards the Great Hall._

!!

So, I suppose its one thing to think that I suck, but to have it thrown in my face is kind of painful.

I mean seriously, no reviews?! again, ouch. That really hurts.

Although I'm not quite sure who I'm talking to because apparently no one is reading this.

Until next time, maybe, hopefully but without any promises-

Bazzer


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you all sooooo much, I seriously appreciate it. I'm sorry this took so long, but school runs my life and work is a close second. At least I got this out before my 21st!

I don't own Harry Potter, but I do own a car and that makes me kind of happy, not as happy as I would be if I owned Harry Potter, but eh, wishes, right?

A lot of back ground character love in this one, which I am always fond of and I hope you will be too. So, here we go….

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_Harry winced as he tried putting weight on his left leg._

"_It's no good, boss. I can't walk on it." _

_Cedric Diggory looked at the younger boy for a second, his eyes flicking between the angry red scar on his forehead, the shattered and bloody leg, the glistening Tri-Wizard's Cup, and his friend's overly-bright green eyes. _

"_Just take it, boss. We both know it belongs to you, that you are the rightful Champion. I'm just glad I survived the ride."_

_But Cedric shook his head resolutely, knowing that this wasn't right. Harry should have taken the Cup when he was distracted, but instead had blasted the acromantula and helped the older boy out. This was _Harry _bleeding _Potter_ for Merlin's sake. He was a teammate, protégée, The Boy-Who-Lived, a fellow Badger and, most importantly, his friend. _

_Watching him lean precariously against the hedge, trying to keep weight off his injured leg and nodding encouragingly toward the finish line Cedric was struck again by how different Harry was from anyone else he knew. Cedric found that he had so much he wanted to talk to him about. He was graduating this year, leaving Hogwarts and entering into the big, bad adult world and somebody was going to have to take over leadership of the Society inside the House. And Harry was it._

_He was the _only_ choice._

_Instead, for the time being, he waved his wand and muttered _Episkey_. Harry felt his leg go very hot, then quickly very cold. He raised an eyebrow in question, but Cedric just shrugged, "It's not a permanent fix, Madam will have to heal it properly, but you can walk to victory on your own two feet."_

"_Cedric, I-"_

"_Together, Harry. Walk upright and be proud, this is a Hogwarts victory, a Hufflepuff victory. We are doing this together."_

_There was a moment when their eyes met and Cedric thought Harry was going to protest again, he was always so damn noble like that, but something passed through his eyes and he reached to his neck to touch the circular pendent that hung there, "Together you say?" Cedric nodded, "Well, alright then, boss, let's do this together. For Hogwarts, yeah?"_

"_For the Badgers." _

_He nodded once more and at the same time they reached to grab the handles of the Tri-Wizard Cup._

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Walking into Snape's defense classroom was something like walking through a Hell's Gate; at least it felt that way to Ron. The room was nothing like what he'd expected (basically another version of his 6th year defense classroom). It was large to say the least, circular and had big open windows to let charmed light in. Most of the room was dominated by a large circle drawn out on the floor and there were desks to fit two people all around the outside. On the wall directly across from the door was a slightly raised platform behind two desks with a larger single desk on top. At one desk slightly to the left of the door was Harry.

He was sitting next the Hermione and they were surrounded by people from all four Houses. Padma Patil leaned against the desk to Hermione's right, smiling brightly and talking excitedly to Blaise Zabini who sat on the front of the desk, polishing an apple on the front of his robes. Standing next to him was Neville Longbottom with an arm around Hannah Abbot and both of them were talking to Harry and the dark-haired girl from Slytherin that had kissed the Boy-Who-Lived earlier in the Hall. She was actually sitting in his lap, holding his arms around her midsection and leaning against him like it was the most natural pose in the world. Draco Malfoy skidded into the room looking flushed seconds before the rush of the rest of the seventh year defense students. Blaise made some comment that earned him a slap on the arm from Padma but a chuckle from the rest of the group. Draco replied, but had a smile on his face. Walking behind the desk he patted Harry on the shoulder and dropped a brotherly kiss onto the top of Hermione's head.

Ron choked on the air.

Then Lavender gave a sharp tug on his tie and he was forced to look away. She looked angry with him and Ron figured that she didn't like the way he was staring, but he couldn't really bring himself to care. On Lavender's other side, the next desk over, Seamus called out, "You alright, mate? You're looking a little green around the gills."

Ron shook his head, but couldn't think of an excuse. Luckily, Dean seemed to feel his unease, "I think it's just the thought of dueling today. He's got to go up against the Goyle and no one in their right mind looks forward to that."

Ron whipped around to look at him, "I have to what?"

Dean blinked then frowned, "You have to duel Goyle today. Did you forget?"

Ron jaw worked but apparently his vocal cords did not because all that came out was a strangled gasp.

"It's probably the head injury; I've read that they may cause some short term or long term memory loss. Perhaps you can use that to get out of the match if you want."

Seamus scoffed at the idea, "Ron's a Gryffindor, Pav! He would never back down from a fight, especially when he has the opportunity to wipe the floor with a bloody Slytherin."

Ron glanced at the door once more just as the hulking form of Gregory Goyle pushed through it. He was so large that he had to turn sideways slightly to fit his massive shoulders through without hitting the frame. Ron was still having issues with superimposing what he knew to be true over what was right in front of him, so it took him a moment to reconcile the ape that was a permanent fixture on Malfoy's left arse cheek with the intensely built, _smiling_ man before him. He swallowed hard, "I have to fight that?"

Seamus gave him a fierce nod, "Just don't back down, all his brains are in his arms. Just out think him." Over the Irishman's shoulder, Pavarti shot him a pitying look but said nothing while Dean clapped him on the shoulder. Even Lavender's smile was weak. Sitting behind him, and next to Dean was Michael Corner who, apparently, had something to add.

He snorted at Seamus' enthusiasm and when the gathered Gryffindors turned to glare at him he merely raised his hands in defense but did nothing to remove the smirk from his face, "The Gar-Goyle runs with Potter. Idiot or no, you think Snape's going to let him lose to one of us?"

Ron face clouded over in confusion, "What's being friend with Harry got to do with having Snape's protection? I thought he hated Harry. Because of his father, you know?"

All around him queer looks were exchanged, but only Michael's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "Why the hell, mate? Potter's proven himself to be just as much of a snake as anyone in with a green and silver insignia. You know as well as the rest of us that Potter's got half the staff in his back pocket. How else would you explain that the top five spots in nearly every class goes to members of his group?"

Ron watched as Hermione Granger, Padma Patil, Su Li and two Slytherin girls chuckle at the confused and resigned faces of Goyle and Neville, respectively, "Maybe he's just friends with smart people."

Seamus gave a noise of disgusted betrayal, "Whose side are you on, Ron? And what with being on a first name basis with public enemy number one? What the hell is going on with you?"

"I don't know, Seamus," he replied softly, watching the way Hermione rested her forehead against Harry's shoulder to control her laughter and how he disengaged one arm from around the smiling Slytherin girl to wrap it around the Head Girl. He sighed wistfully, "I really don't."

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_The portkey, recognized by the familiar jerk behind the navel, deposited the two boys in what appeared to be an empty graveyard. Cedric, who was infinitely better adapted for Wizarding means of travel, landed on his feet while Harry crumpled into a pile by his side. Laughing because he didn't think Harry had ever landed on his feet Cedric offered his hand to the younger boy who batted it away in mock-contempt. _

"_You think this is part of the Task?" the seeker asked as the beater scrambled to his feet._

"_Dunno, but I am sure that I don't like it."_

"_Wands out, yeah?" _

_Harry nodded emphatically and they both drew their wands. Cedric lit the tip of his wand with a Lumos spell and waved it about, trying to gain a bit of perspective on where they were. Harry followed the edge of the light as it passed over headstones and statues. He caught a name engraved on the largest stone several feet to the left and felt something in his memory stir. "Move it back this way, Ced."_

"_What is it Harry?" _

_He swung the light back to illuminate the large stone._

_THOMAS RIDDLE._

_The younger boy jumped and stumbled over a stone on the ground, falling and landing against another large stone. Cedric gave him a queer look, "Someone you know, mate?"_

"_We need to leave and we need to leave _now_."_

"_Alright, alright, don't get your knickers in a twist. Here let me help you up," he turned to offer Harry a hand once more, but froze half-way around. "Eh, Harry? Is that what I think it is?"_

_Harry pushed himself up and turned to look at what Cedric was gesturing towards. A large pewter cauldron, cold to the touch but frothing and bubbling on the inside stood chest high behind them. "Depends on if you think that it's something really, really bad."_

"_Yeah, leaving sounds bloody brilliant right about now."_

_They turned at the same time, tripping over loose patches of earth and their own feet on the way back to the shimmering bluish glow of the Tri-Wizard's Cup. Several feet from their goal Cedric stopped suddenly causing Harry to run half-speed onto his back for the third time that night. "What the he-"_

"_Harry, I can't move."_

"_Leaving so soon boys?" A hunched out figure appeared before them, draped in a thick dark cloak and surrounding its upper body and arms around a bundle of robes. All the while it kept a wand trained on the older boy. "I'm afraid I can't let that happen. You see the Dark Lord is rather insistent that you be present for his Rebirth."_

_Harry felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end at the voice, "Peter," he growled._

_Then a voice came from the bundle of robes, startling all three with a rasping voice like letting steam out of a valve, "Ssstop wasssting time, Wormtail. Capture the boy and kill the ssspare."_

_With a grin and a shrug, Cedric was shown the rat-like features of the man who raised the wand to take his life. Then his field of vision was obscured by a bright green light and the booming sound of "_AvadaKedavra_!" Then, just as he had screwed up his face for the inevitable, he felt a wrenching in his back and was face down in the dirt._

"_Am I dead?"_

"_Just like a bloody seeker, you see something shiny and suddenly you can't think enough to duck."_

"_Harry?"_

"_Best get up, boss, we're still in a bad way."_

_Then they were up, dodging spell fire, ducking behind tombstones and a furious two-on-one duel commenced. A momentary reprieve was granted to the younger men when, under the cover a kicked up dust, they were able to dive behind a life-sized statue of a guardian angel. "Aim for the bundle in his arms, he'll do anything to protect it," Harry commanded of his captain, rubbing furiously at his scar._

"_What in Merlin's name is that thing?"_

"_Best guess? The darkest tosser since Grindelwald."_

"_Are you telling that _that_ is He-"_

"_Voldemort, boss, and yeah I am. I told you it was stupid to think that a baby was able to destroy a man that whole armies fell before. Now go!"_

_The battle began anew, but now they had a purpose and direction other than staying alive. Eventually Cedric and Harry were able to twist the positions enough to have a direct line to the Cup. Then, with a _Reducto_ bright enough to light up the entire graveyard the 'Puffs broke formation and ran like the devil was on their tails._

_The bundle gave a mighty hiss, "Wormtail, you imbecile, you're letting them go! Ssstop them!"_

_A blasting hex directly between the two teammates effectively separated them and Wormtail waved his wand menacingly at the younger boy, "You've been a nuisance for far too long!"_

"_Cedric! Take the Cup and go!"_

_Peter turned, as if suddenly reminded what would happen if either one escaped, "_AvadaKedavra_!" _

_Like moments before the bright light flooded his vision and his last thought was of how he'd never told Cho that he really did love her._

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Daphne Greengrass has always been, for the most part, very comfortable in her own skin. She had been taught at an early age that she came from a long line of very attractive women and that she would most assuredly follow. Her father had raised her to hold her head high and to never back down from anyone, man or woman, and her mother had instilled in her a natural grace and a manner of hiding unwanted emotion behind a thin veneer of distain. And so, as a beautiful woman who neither back down nor reacted when provoked, Daphne was used to being stared at.

But that didn't mean it wasn't unnerving at times.

Surreptitiously, because how else would a Slytherin do it, she leant further into the lean and solid form of her boyfriend and shifted then tilted her head so that the tip of her nose brushed against the underside of his jaw. In turn, he inclined his head just slightly in the other direction so that his neck was now bared beneath her lips. It was a submissive gesture and they both knew it, but it was actions like that which meant more to her than all the jewelry in the world because it meant he trusted her not to hurt or abuse him.

As a reward for his show of good faith she pressed a kiss to the pulse point just below his ear and whispered, "You're new friend is staring."

He did not break stride in the conversation with Hermione, Padma and Neville about the dueling brackets but tightened his hold on her just slightly to show he heard. Satisfied she turned to Blaise and asked him how his Italian was coming along.

Draco slid through the door pulling on his robe and fixing his mussed hair, face flushed and smile bright. Blaise merely quirked an eyebrow and remarked, "So many broom closets, so little time, eh Pol?"

Padma slapped him, but everyone else grinned.

"Don't be sore, Loki, I'm only beating you by four now," to which everyone laughed. He walked behind Harry and Hermione, patting his brother on the shoulder and kissing the top of his sister's head. He nabbed a chair from the next desk over and turned it so that he could straddle it backwards, "What's the game plan for today?"

Hermione scooted the paper she and Padma had designed weeks before towards him, "Anywhere between four and seven matches today. You and Stephen Cornfoot, Anthony and Dean Thomas, Ron Weasley and Greg, and Lisa Turpin and Su Li have to at least attempt today."

Padma continued, "Susan, Neville, Finnigan, Corner, Sally-Ann Perks and Silas Moon all have the wildcard option of passing or challenging today if we have time."

"Easy day, then," he jutted his chin to the table over where the rest of the 'Puff and 'Claw men were strategizing with Susan Bones, "Goldstein is the only one with a marginal challenge so long as Su uses her small size and quick feet to her advantage."

"Which I intend to," the small Oriental girl stated from behind the blonde causing him to jump to his feet and nearly trip over his chair, much to the amusement of the people around him. She grinned at the dirty blonde haired girl in Slytherin robes next to her, "I didn't even say 'boo' this time."

Draco pressed a hand to the front of his robes, "I _hate_ it when she does that," he complained to Harry.

Harry leaned forward over Daphne's shoulder and stage-whispered to him, "I think that's why she does it."

Su Li shrugged guiltily and Tracey Davis slung her arm over the smaller girl's shoulders while wiping at imaginary tears with the heel of her other hand, "I'm just so proud."

There was a pause as Harry reached for the sheet of paper that designed the dueling schedule for the class. He frowned at it but said nothing as he rested his chin against the curve his girlfriend's neck.

Hannah Abbot was the first to notice, "What's the matter, Cas?"

Everyone turned to look at him, but he did not respond to her. Instead he closed his eyes and turned to press his face to the side of Daphne's neck. She sighed and closed her eyes as well, but more out of resignation than anything else, "Harry doesn't think Greg should fight Weasley today. He thinks something has changed and doesn't want to stir up the waters more before they have a chance to settle in the first place."

Neville pulled Hannah closer to himself. "Well that would be up to Greg, wouldn't it?" he asked just as the man in question slipped through the door.

Greg approached the table and stood on the side between Harry's chair and where Neville stood, he wagged his fingers in sign language while Su Li translated to the still closed-eyed Badger, "Don't be angry with me, Harry, but I don't think it would be fair to duel Weasley today. He's obviously suffering from some head injury."

Everyone's turned to stare at Harry as he just grinned into the side of Daphne's neck. Hannah nudged her fiancé as he groaned, "Now, I hate it when _he_ does _that_." The girls just laughed.

The door to the class room slammed shut with a definitive _bang! _and a sneering voice commanded, "To your seats!"

Everyone who was not seated behind a desk scrambled to find there places. Snape glared around the room, eyes pausing at the red-headed miscreant surrounded by arrogant Lions who had the audacity to openly glare back. He sneered at the inferior technique and continued his sweep around the room.

He sighed under his breath, "To your _own_ seats, Miss Greengrass."

He pinched the bridge of his nose with the fingers of his right hand in order to stave off a headache when the girl stood gracefully, placed a kiss on the top of her boyfriend's head and at with a look that conveyed her displeasure at the situation slid into the empty seat a few desks down next to Greg Goyle.

He then walked through the large circle on the floor and tapped the front of the instructor's desk with his wand; the wood was instantly replaced with a blackboard that had brackets similar to the Quidditch playoff breakdown. "Miss Granger, if you would?" he snapped without turning around.

But Hermione didn't seem to mind his waspish tone, "Of course, Sir." She waved her wand and the writings of the paper in front of her appeared in neat cursive on the board, however on the line next to G. Goyle the word 'forfeit' was written and Ron's name appeared on the line in the second round.

The room froze even as Snape blazed, "What is the meaning of this?!"

Greg stood immediately, back straight and face forward, "I forfeit, sir."

"I can _see_ that, fool! I asked why," the professor ground out.

"It would be unfair, sir, as he is obviously incapacitated."

"Hey!" Corner shouted from the other side of the room as Ron felt Lavender push his jaw closed.

Snape leveled a fierce look in their direction before swinging the glare back at one of his own, "And when your enemy lays before you on the ground, _incapacitated_, will you walk away and let him live because you don't want to kick a man when he's down?!"

Greg blinked attempting to take in the harshly spoken words and quickly he glanced at Harry who raised an eyebrow in response and dipped his chin in confirmation, "No, Sir, I would not. Should the enemy of my own lay before me I would take him out, however, Ron Weasley is not my enemy, nor is he the enemy of my own."

"Since when?!"

"Yeah, since when?!" Seamus stood, slamming his fists against the desk.

"SILENCE!" the greasy-haired professor roared, turning and brandishing his wand at the brazen Gryffindor. His stance was wide, wand held loosely and poised for attack in his right hand as his left arm was folded against his side.

Ron was once again stuck by a profound sense of wrongness, but found that he couldn't voice the opinion even if he felt the need to. Satisfied that he would have no more interruption the Lion's gallery, Snape whirled once more but found that Goyle had already seated himself and now stared straight forward, resolute.

The Head of House inclined his head towards Harry, "Is this your doing?"

In response Harry cocked his head to one side and grinned, "As a matter of fact, I had not even mentioned it to Greg, but," and he smiled at the large Slytherin brightly, "I am quite proud of him." He glanced back at the professor, "I think you seriously overestimate the amount of influence I have over people."

Snape cocked an eyebrow, "And I think that you seriously underestimate it," there was no malice in his voice, and his lips were quirked in a frown but his eyes were narrowed in obvious suspicion. Finally he sighed, "And you, Weasley, do you accept this hollow victory?"

He glanced behind him and Ron nodded thickly as Lavender jabbed him with her elbow. Snape sneered once more, "Of course you do."

Snape moved swiftly to seat himself behind the desk on the platform. He glared once more about the classroom, "Well what are you waiting for, a written invitation? Cornfoot and Malfoy to the center of the arena!"

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_Then, almost exactly like last time, Harry seemed to appear from no one tackling his captain, mentor, and friend to one side. But, unlike last time, Cedric turned at the last moment, watching the way that Harry contorted his body so that it covered whatever portion of Cedric's own was still in the line of fire. Cedric watched wide-eyed and disbelieving as the bright green tongue of fire splashed against the younger boys back and the dead weight of his body landed solidly on top of his own._

_But Harry's sacrifice had done more than save his life once. _

_The tackle had landed him less than half a meter from the glowing Cup. _

_With one arm holding Harry's lifeless body to himself, Cedric grasped the handle of the porkey, the manic "_NOO_!" from the bundle ringing in his ears and echoing the sobs from his own throat._

_BCBCBCBCBCBCBC_

The duels were a lesson to Ron about how unprepared he was for this reality. There was a tension in the air as Draco Malfoy and Stephen Cornfoot, a seventh year Ravenclaw that played chaser on the House team, stepped into the circle. Cornfoot proved his 'Claw knowledge by letting loose a series of curses that Ron had only ever heard Hermione talk about. Flashes of color streamed from his wand in a near constant flow as he wordlessly flicked the wood across his body. The blonde boy dove to one side, rolling into a kneeling position, wand twitching in what looked to be a gross mutilation of a bubble-head charm and _protégo _. One of Stephen's curses flew at him but Draco merely couched lower into a ball. Ron watched as the spell fire seemed to stop then spread rapidly into a dome around Draco, obscuring him from view.

The dome of red light exploded with Draco bursting forth in a flash of light, blinding Stephen (and half of the class) which left him open to a quick Stunner. He was woken up a second later, shaking his head, "Well that was a new one. I almost thought I had you for a second."

Draco raised an eyebrow, "Guess you'll know better next time."

Ron growled low in his throat and Seamus sent him a proud look. But for his part the Ravenclaw chaser just shrugged and took his seat.

"I dunno seemed a little flashy to me," Harry gibed in a bored voice, slinging an arm around the back of Hermione's chair, before winking at the blonde in the middle of the ring.

Draco rolled his eyes skyward and threw his arms up, "I can never win with you, can I?"

Harry shrugged and Hermione poked him in the side, "Guess you'll have to do better next time." Draco flicked him off and Ron glanced at the professor thinking that Harry was probably going to get a detention for his cheek but was horrified by the almost fond looking half-smile on the greasy git's face. Oh yeah, there was something definitely wrong with this place.

Dean and Anthony Goldstein took the floor next and even thought he came from the same side as the Boy-Who-Lived, Ron was surprised to see a dark look on his best mate's face as he watched the golden-haired Ravenclaw. Next to him Susan Bones reached out and touched Harry on the shoulder, seemingly to calm him, as Hermione touched the hand that rested on her shoulder.

The fight took longer than the one before it by several minutes. Until finally Dean had Anthony twist himself into an awkward position by the way he danced in and out of the dark-skinned boy's curses. The Gryffindor cast two stunners onto either side of his opponent so that when he moved to dodge the first he ending up tripping himself into the second. Seamus, Pavarti, Lavender, Ron and Michael Corner stood up and cheered and even Harry's group gave him a round of applause.

Dean glanced in Harry's direction as Snape woke the unconscious boy up, and the dark-haired Badger acknowledged him by nodding once with a grin and Dean flushed with pride. Seamus seemed to miss the exchange in his excitement, but Ron certainly did not. Neither did Michael.

Finally Su Li, the tiniest person in their year, stood against her Housemate Lisa Turpin. The larger girl had a superior look on her face and even Ron had to admit Su looked rather meek and mild. The girl she had been sitting next to, a dirty blonde in Slytherin robes that Ron recognized as Tracey Davis, cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Give her hell, luv!"

Around him Ron's 'friends' chortled and made rude sounds and he was able to catch a dark look pass across Dean's face. Harry's group just grinned while Snape looked slightly ill. Su Li flashed a grateful look back at the girl and when Snape waved to begin the duel she spun her wand at her own feet and while Ron blinked she sped to Lisa's side and took her out with a single red flash to the temple.

Draco laughed after a full minute of stunned silence, "Tell me you can find something wrong with that!"

"That," Harry stood and bowed at the waist to Su, "was perfect."

She curtsied back and returned to her seat as Snape tapped Lisa on the head, waking her up. She blinked at Su, already seated and her jaw fell as if unhinged. She harrumphed grumpily then sulked back to her seat, without saying a word.

Dean and Draco reentered the arena and a hard fought battle commenced between the two. Draco attempted the same trick but Dean kept his spells at a constant but reasonable pace so that the other boy was never given the chance to finish the movements involved. Finally Draco was forced to change tactics and the fight began in earnest with a proper exchange of offensive and defensive moves.

Recognizing the same two sided spell movements of Dean's, Draco choose to fall into the weaker line of fire and count on his ability to shake off the magic. It paid off in that he was able to snag the dark-skinned boy with a wide arcing stunner even as his legs froze in a half-body bind.

Draco fixed his owe legs and shook the newly-awakened Dean's hand civilly before both returned to their seats.

Next Su Li stepped back into the circle, and Ron looked around confused at the act until he realized that everyone was looking back at _him._

"What are they looking at?" he whispered to Lavender, but in the dead silence of the room it carried to all.

"You, Mr. Weasley," Snape groaned.

"Me?" he squeaked.

"It is your name on the second round line, is it not?"

Ron's jaw flopped, and he waved his arm frantically toward Greg Goyle, "I, but, he forfeited!"

"Yes," Su stepped up to his desk and even standing she just able to look him straight in the eyes, "but just because Greg is a teddy bear does not mean that the rest of us are as soft-hearted or as easily inclined to believe that you are incapable of a just duel."

Ron blinked as Snape's silky voice carried, "Well said Miss Li. Now, Weasley, we don't have all day."

He blinked once more and reacted more by autopilot toward the marked spot to begin. Snape waved his hand lazily, signaling the beginning and immediately the girl waned her wand in a familiar pattern. Ron had never been known as a quick thinker, he was a planner at the very heart of it. Chess, and he was good at chess, was about strategy. Harry had told him once that should he get into a situation where he did not have the next four moved planned out that he should use his instinct, trust himself is what he had been told. Harry had always believed that they would know intrinsically what to do and if they would just relax then it would come naturally.

Ron very nearly always took Harry advice when it came to matters such as this.

So the red-head allowed himself to relax and sink into the duel. Su was working on her speed spell and so he cast the first spell that came to mind. It was a simple spell invented and perfected by his mother as a tactic for raising the twins. Always up to something, beloved Mum Weasley would simply cast the spell to slow the influence of magic in a given area, so that whatever prank the twins had come up with would be found before the damage could be done.

Su frowned when she found herself still under the influence of the speed spell, but now only moving at a normal pace. It was most frustrating and she showed her displeasure by rapid fire spell casting that had Ron on his toes, ducking and weaving when a shield could not be produced. Su ground her back teeth, anger seeping into her frame, making her aim shoddy and her curses erratic.

And suddenly she was on the defensive, forced to use ever ounce of energy she possessed to avoid his castings. Fed up with this highly unexpected turn of events the petite Ravenclaw had a sudden burst of inspiration. She rushed the boy, smirking at the way he fumbled through a stunner at the startling move. She batted the red line of fire away with a small deflective shield, spun to kick his wand from his hand and as he stared in shock and awe at her wand at his chest she pushed hard forcing him to kneel.

He complied falling to his knees, and stared her in the eyes as she reached with her free hand to touch her fingertips to his forehead, "_Legilimens_."

Behind her she heard someone shouting and pounding on the protective dome that surrounded the arena, but it was too late.

She had already slipped into Ron Weasley's mind.

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_Cedric appeared back at Hogwarts in the middle of the Quidditch pitch. The great hedges were gone and the stands were mostly empty, but there was a group of people sanding some distance away. Cedric recognized his dad and Cho and almost all of Harry's friends and adoptive family yelling and demanding answers from Dumbledore and the professors around him. No one seemed to notice him and Harry as they landed silently. Cedric wanted to yell and scream for them, he wanted to demand them to help Harry, to _fix_ him but for some reason he could push enough air past his lips to make a noise._

_He pushed Harry onto his back, tapped his face, _pleaded_ with him to wake up. He tried to feel for a pulse but his fingers were shaking too much for it to be any good. _

_This couldn't be _fucking_ happening. _

_He looked up once more, but still no one looked in their direction. Harry Potter was dead. Harry Potter died so that he could live. _

_A body fell to its knees on Harry's other side. Cedric jumped and pulled Harry's body closer, but he recognized the girl as someone that was very nearly always with Harry. Her small, pale hands touched along the contours of Harry face. She brushed the hair from his eyes and trailed a fingernail, bitten down to the quick, along the brightened lines of his scar. She made a path down his face, touching his eyes and lips with the pads of her fingers, curled them around his throat, and rested her palm flat against the planes of his chest. Sharply she pressed down and just as quickly pulled up. Harry's chest went with it._

_Harry was breathing._

_Harry was _alive_. _

_Cedric watched amazing as she bent down to kiss him on the forehead, lips touching the scar briefly, and then intoned "_Time to wake up, Harry James. The battle has merely just begun_." _

_As she spoke Harry's eyes fluttered open and the girl looked up to catch Cedric's gaze. He was surprised by the thin tears tracks that adorned her cheeks and the red rims around her bright blue eyes, "Hail, Aeacus."_

_Between them Harry coughed and he reached for the girl's hand, "Hey, Lu. How did I do?"_

"_Exceptionally, brother, absolutely phenomenally. Sleep now and wake knowing you're one step closer." _

_Harry nodded, and his eyes rolled back into his head. Cedric started but was calmed by the sight of the boy's chest raising and falling. _

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Harry slammed his fists against the barrier once more, "Stop, Su!"

Draco grabbed him around the waist and pulled him backwards, "Give it up, Harry! You know that the barrier won't fall until one of them is unconscious . We designed it that way, for Merlin's sake."

Harry growled and even Hermione had to fight the urge to back away from him. Snape rushed them, "What in the name of Paracelsus is she doing!?"

Blaise buffed his fingernails on the front of his robes, "Best guess? Taking a visual tour of the deepest thoughts of Ronald Weasley. I wouldn't worry too much, I don't imagine it's that long of a ride."

Snape shot him a dark, ugly look that had the boy rolling his eyes, "Jeez, take a joke."

His Head of House turned on Harry, waving his hand in exaggerated flicking motions, "You! You have something to do with this! How else would she get training in the Mental Arts if you didn't teach her!"

Harry rolled his eyes this time, "I've _just_ mastered defensive aspects of it, what makes you think I'm at all qualified to instill the lessons of attacking?"

"Because someone had to be attacking in order for you to master defense."

The Badger snapped his jaw, then closed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair in a supposedly calming gesture, no one dare approach him.

"Tracey."

The girl in question took a tentative step forward and Snape was almost surprised at how his student, one he had never seen without a confident or superior look, gazed apprehensively at her classmate. "Tracey," he repeated once more flashing bright, emerald eyes at her, "How much does Su know?"

She shook her head slowly, thinking now, "Not enough for this, she's never practiced on a hostile mind before and I don't think she knows what she doing. She knows the risks, Harry, and she wouldn't even attempt this unless it was for an incredibly important reason. You have to believe me, Harry, there has to be something very important in his mind for her to do it. You have to believe me!"

"I do, Tracey," he took her by the shoulders, "but you need to tell me what we're looking at."

"Chances are, if he's had any training, he's trapped her in his mind and until he let's her go they are both stuck like this. She isn't strong enough to get out on her own, and he doesn't trust her to let herself out."

"What are the chances that one is going to pass out soon?" he turned to Snape.

He shook his head once, "Not likely."

Harry released his hold on Tracey and caught Daphne's eye over her head, resolutely he began unbuttoning his robes and Snape sputtered, "What are you doing?!"

"I'm going in after them," he responded calmly, folding his robe and placing to on his desk.

"There's no way you have the power to break that barrier, it as designed to stop every bit of magic shy of the killing curse!"

The dark-haired boy blinked at him, taking off his tie and quietly rolling up his sleeves, "Hannah , Blaise, I'm going to need your help."

But the two had already removed their outer robes and were in the process of rolling their sleeves up as well. Hermione approached him and looked him over clinically, "You may want to do this sans wand, it distracts too much as a conduit."

"You're going to kill yourself!" Snape bellowed, but was ignored.

"You may not understand, Professor, and I do get that. But one of my girls is in there and I do intend to get her out." He shrugged once in an attempt to loosen the muscles in shoulders, twisted his neck to nod at Draco and then placed his hands against the barrier. It flashed beneath his palms, but held solidly. Hannah placed her hand on his left shoulder and Blaise placed his on Harry's right. A wind kicked up around them, blowing hair in odd directions and the air seemed to crackle as the sheer magic in the atmosphere was tapped and twisted to meet the needs of the wizards and witch.

There was a _crack! _that reverberated along the entire corridor as the magic failed and Harry stumbled across the line, and then another flash as the barrier reconstructed itself behind him.

He waved to the other, indicating that he was ok and approached the two stationary figures in the middle of the arena, both had the thin crackling of magic around them and their eyes were rolled back and nearly completely white. Slowly he lowered Su's wand, slid an arm around her shoulders, closed Ron's jaw and pressed the tip of his finger against the kneeling boy's temple.

He blinked into existence at the outskirts of a hastily created mental barrier, "Let me in, Ron."

"Harry?" the voice seemed to come from all placed at once, "Harry is that you?"

"Yes, Ron, I came to help, but I need you to let me in so I can get Su out."

"You can do that?"

"If you trust me."

The barrier collapsed immediately and Harry was slightly taken aback by the complete show of faith. The scenes of Ron's memories flashed around him, scenes that Harry remembered distinctly but did not think that Ron had been there. There was the rooms below Fluffy that Greg, Hermione, Susan and he had gone through. The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. The Shrieking Shack as Peter was forced to change. A battle in what looked like the Ministry, Godric's Hollow, Hogwarts in flames, Molly Weasley dueling Bellatrix LeStrange, and Harry himself.

He was there every time.

Then the spinning stopped just as Harry was beginning to get dizzy with information over load. He recognized the Room of Requirement as the Dueling Arena he and the Collective trained in but he knew for a fact that Ron Weasley had never stepped foot through that door.

"I left her here, I think," the booming voice sounded sheepish and a little worried, "I think I hurt her, I didn't mean to I just, well, I just reacted."

The fracture of Su's mind that was trapped in this place was curled in a small ball, shivering and shaking. "Why, why is she like that? I didn't _do_ anything to her!"

Behind Harry Ron's mind fractured to produce a moving figment, an embodiment of his voice. The Boy-Who-Lived turned to face the figment but was floored by what he saw before him. Ron Weasley was a bully, he was tall and a little thick around the middle from large meals and no exercise. His shoulders had been somewhat broad, but that may have been a trick in the way his arms were so long. His eyes were arrogant and superior and made his face tight in jealousy. That's the way he had always looked.

Only , that obviously wasn't how Ron knew himself to look.

The Ron before him was long and lean with many circular scars showing on the visible parts of his neck, left arm and jaw line. His gaze was concerned and he looked afraid that Harry would be disappointed. He had seen death and loss, felt fear and joy and it was all shadowed in his eyes.

Harry shook his head, there was plenty of time later to figure out just what the hell was going on, but right now Su was what mattered. "The walls you put up trapped her in your mind and pretty efficiently cut her off from her own mind. She scared and being split in two."

Ron's eyes widen, "I-I didn't know."

"You couldn't have, what she did was reckless, but in truth I wouldn't expect anything less from her, not with Tracey and Blaise influencing her."

"What can I do?"

"Let me do what I have to, and when you feel that we are both completely gone, snap your mental defenses to full scale and let yourself pass out, that will help fix this with minimal strain."

The red-head nodded like he was used to taking orders from Harry, as his illusion was fading he grinned in a self-deprecating manner, "See you on the other side."

Gently Harry knelt next to Su and cradled her against his body, instinctively she all but melted into his hold. With some strain he shifted through Ron's mental landscape until he found the link Su had forged and carried her across. He dropped her off in her own mind, severed the link between the two minds as gently as he could and then pulled out himself.

He jerked back, breathing deeply as Su burrowed into his chest and started to cry uncontrollably. He her tightly and turned his gaze to Ron, watching as the Gryffindor blinked back into his own right. He looked confused as he watched Harry, then shook his head fighting the exhaustion he felt. Harry touched him on the shoulder, lightly pushing some calming magic through his fingertips, "Sleep, Rook, knowing you've done well."

Ron nodded distractedly, then crumpled into a heap on the floor, unconscious for the second time that day.

The barrier collapsed and the sounds from the class rushed to greet him. "I assume this means we are done for the day, Sir?"

Snape nodded, "It would appear Mr. Malfoy is the champion for the day, class is dismissed."

Harry nodded, "Greg, could you please take Su to the Hospital Wing. Tracey and Hermione, please accompany them and see if you can offer Madam Pomfrey any assistance." Greg cradled Su like a small child against his chest and left with the two other girls in his wake.

Seamus rushed him and looked ready to tackle the swaying boy in the ring, before he was stopped by at least four stunners and two full-body binds, he was quickly followed by Michael Corner who befell a similar fate. Harry blinked at Dean and Lavender, "He really should go to the Hospital Wing, but I doubt he was harmed in any way." The Gryffindors nodded, and between the two of them carried Ron out the door, leaving the other to for Pavarti to wake.

Harry stumbled but was caught quickly as Daphne appeared by his side and helped him into a chair. "Come now, you foolish, brilliant boy, you need to rest as well."

He shook his head, "But- he, his mind, his memories-"

"Later , luv," she hushed him by pressing her fingers to his lips and her body into his, "We'll discuss this all when the Sphinx awakens. Besides I am sure that both Phoenix and Wadjet would like to be there for this."

He blinked tiredly, nodding slowly before leaning forward to rest his forehead against her collar bone. She closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around him tightly, and ignored the tears as they fell, "You foolish, crazy, beautiful man."

"I love you too, darling."

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_Harry woke up later that evening, alone in the Hospital Wing. His first move was to reach for his glasses before he remembered that he didn't need them anymore. His second was to rub at his forehead to check if his scar was still there. It was a silly move, he knew. He also knew that if Draco or anyone else were there that he would have been made fun of, but something was different. All of his life Harry had been able to feel his scar as a sort of dull, but constant throb, pulsing in tandem with his heartbeat. But now, suddenly, he couldn't feel it. It was like it wasn't there, except his fingers brushed against the thin, raised lines so apparently it was. _

"_Hiya, Harry."_

_The green-eyes boy jumped guiltily and pulled at his bangs to cover the confounding thing, "Cedric! You're okay!"_

"_Yeah," the older boy shifted his eyes, "Thanks to you that is." He squared his shoulders and his voice took on an edge, "That was a Killing Curse, Harry; you jumped in front of a damned _Killing Curse_!"_

_Harry looked around, unable to look the other boy in the eyes. He knew this would happen, that having friends was too god to be true, "And I'm still here, I get it, okay! I'm a freak, a-"_

"_Shut up, Harry! You're not a freak, you're a stupid, irresponsible," Cedric watched the way Harry flinched at his words, so he shifted his tone again, "incredibly lucky son of a bitch." Harry blinked up at him, stunned. "And you are one hell of a friend."_

_Harry dropped jaw snapped upward, "So why were you yelling at me?!" _

_Cedric laughed suddenly; there was the Harry he knew. The flinching, scared, pathetic Harry that had sat there and taken his howling was not the man he had watched grow under the careful tutelage of Hermione Granger, Padma Patil, Su Li and the entire House of Hufflepuff. For what Cedric had a feeling was coming, Harry was going to need to be strong and he was going to need to be able to stand up for himself._

"_You have to know that your life is worth so much more than mine, that if one of us had to go in that graveyard it should have been me."_

_Harry gestured between them, "But neither of us died, neither -"_

_Cedric waved his hand sharply, "That's not the point, kid. Point is you didn't know what was going to happen when you jumped between me and certain death did you?"_

_The younger boy shook his 'no'._

"_Things are happening, Harry. People have been on edge since the World Cup, maybe before then, and tonight just clinched it. And when things start coming to the forefront, people are going to need you to be around and alive and we don't know if you even get anymore 'get out of jail free' cards."_

"_Why me?" and there was that sad little boy again, "Because I'm the bloody Boy-Who-Lived?"_

"_Yes." _

_Harry blinked, stunned by his honesty, "That's not fair; I didn't even do anything that night."_

"_But you did something tonight. I'm here because of you, twice tonight you saved my life and that's not including the Maze. Life's not fair, Harry James Potter, but you've got to play the hand you were dealt."_

"_Why? Who says I can't just walk away and let the adults and trained professional take care of the monsters and Dark Lords?"_

_Cedric glared down at him, "I'm going to answer that question and then I'm going to forget you ever asked it and we are never going to talk about it again." Harry nodded somewhat petulantly. "Do you remember your sorting?"_

_His head reeled at the abrupt change of topic, but he nodded anyways._

"_Anyone who was raised in a wizarding family knew about Harry Potter and how he defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named before he could walk. We knew about his parents. His mother: the smartest, bravest witch of her age that bested pranksters and professors, she was born to muggles and ended up taming one of the wildest personalities in Hogwarts, inventor of potions and charms. His father: a brilliant boy born to one of the oldest and wealthiest families in the Magical World who landed the prettiest witch and was an amazing auror who caught dozens of dark wizards. Both Gryffindors, both heroes. _

"_So we knew that when Harry Potter was sorted that the Hat wouldn't even touch his head before he'd be sorted into Gryffindor because he was a hero and that is where heroes go. Imagine our surprise when McGonagall calls out Harry Potter, and _you_ step forward. You were supposed to be this great, amazing person and I guess we all kind of forgot that you were only eleven. Then she puts the Hat on your head, and we waited. And waited. Do you know how long that Hat was on your head before you were sorted?"_

_Harry shrugged sheepishly, deeply fascinated by what the older boy was saying._

"_Little over fourteen minutes. If you want a more accurate time I'm sure the Weasley twin were taking bets. And then it rips open and calls out _Hufflepuff_. The whole room stopped. You remember?"_

_Harry looked down, feeling it all again. The eager anticipation as he took the hat off and the stunned silence that had greeted him. He remembered the disbelieving looks on the red and gold tables, the scattered laughs of the blue and bronze and the triumphant smirks of the silver and green. No one spoke, no one cheered for him in the same manner as those who had gone before him. He was crushed._

"_You were devastated. The only thing you knew about magic was that you had been different your entire life, and then you were supposed to go somewhere and be with people who were like you, who could understand you, that would welcome you with open arms. You had this look on your face like you had just realized that you'd let the whole of Magic down. A month of knowing that magic is real and you'd failed it. You remember what happened next?"_

"_Susan and Hannah stood on the bench and cheered."_

"_Yeah," he smiled fondly at the memory, "Louder than anyone had ever cheered before. And the whole house followed them. But I'm telling you right now, the Hat had made the right choice, Harry. In Hufflepuff you discovered and grew into who you are supposed to be because there are no expectations for a Badger. We are qualified by what every one should already be: loyal, hardworking and honest. And look at what you've become Harry, look at the man you are becoming. That is all because you were allowed to grow without pressure, well with out much pressure. You are Harry Potter. You are a leader. You are a child of destiny, and people will follow you through heaven and hell because you have proven that you are the man we all knew you would grow up to be."_

_Harry drew his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, "But I don't want that ability. I don't want people to follow me, do what I say. I don't want that type of power over people."_

"_Which is exactly why it has to be you."_

_Harry swallowed heavily and turned away from his captain, and Cedric pretended that he didn't see the tears on his face, "I'm scared, Cedric. Terrified."_

"_I know, but you have to remember that you aren't going at this alone. Sue, Hannah, and all of your friends from the other houses will be by your side. And I, for one, am already willing to pledge my loyalty."_

"_Boss-!"_

"_Not anymore, Harry," he shook his head solemnly, " You're the Boss now, got it." He watched the fear begin to building Harry's eyes and clapped him on the shoulder, "Buck up, mate, the war hasn't started and no one expects you to lead armies anytime soon. Just continue to learn and grow and be yourself, but you _have_ to remember, acknowledge, and embrace that you have a destiny." He reached out and touched his hand against Harry's shoulder. "Can you do that?"_

"_No."_

"_Harry-!"_

"_Not yet," the younger boy interrupted, "But I'll do it anyway. And when I am ready, well, by that time I'll have plenty of practice, yeah?"_

_Cedric laughed and for the last time tousled his hair, "That works for me, boss. That works for me."_

BCBCBCBCBCBC

Well, that was that. Long, right?

Show me some love, it helps me sleep at night…


	4. Chapter 4

So, I suck. I know.

AN: I don't own Harry Potter and Co. because I'm not that creative. And I'll talk more at the end.

* * *

!!

_Lucius Malfoy could hardly be considered a stupid man. Even the people that hated him the most could hardly insult his intelligence. His pride, arrogance, and fanaticism were other issues entirely, but at the moment the senior Malfoy was content with his intelligence. _

_And his money. _

_And his blood line. _

_But mostly his own brilliance. _

_He fingered the stopper on the crystal decanter, considering the implications of partaking in the indulgence so early in the day, but considering that most of his plans for the year were already well into play he felt he had earned a bit of said indulgence. Pouring himself a bit of the golden Hors d'age Lucius grinned at the now empty glass case nestled prominently in his bookshelf. _

_Decades ago, when Lucius had been first handed the journal, he had not know exactly what it was that he had held in his hands, but his Master had made sure that he knew it was of infinite importance. He knew now that this object would somehow harken the return of the most powerful wizard in history. And the time was quickly approaching; Lucius could feel it in the core of his very magic._

_The book was in play and soon all of his other plans would work themselves out, there was just one more piece to set up. A check of sorts, for the one outlying possibility. _

_Harry Potter._

_Lucius had to take another sip in order to rid himself of the bitter taste the name left on his tongue. But the senior Malfoy was not so lost in his thoughts that he would miss the shuffling of feet at the door of his study. _

"_You called for me, father?"_

_He tightened his fingers around the base of his glass, but instead of turning to face his offspring he took a moment to smooth the sneer from his face that often came unbidden to him at the sound of the small boy's voice. It was not that Lucius hated his own heir; it was simply that he had no desire to need one. Draco represented the things that he did not wish for in this life. Like marriage and his own mortality._

_And so, at best, he treated the boy with polite indifference and at worst, down right loathing. Nevertheless, the boy was useful. Or so he hoped._

BCBCBC

There was the brief moment of absolute stillness in the air that Su Li had felt many times, it was the moment just before someone came out of a trance, left the mind of another voluntarily, or awoke from pure unconsciousness. Unfortunately for the petite Ravenclaw it was the latter. But the moment passed, as moments tend to do, and Su felt her senses come back to her. She kept her eyes closed and stretched the rest of her awareness as she had been taught.

The overall smell was antiseptic and the feel of the magic was sterile which indicated more than anything that she was in the hospital wing. There was the low murmuring of a female voice and the rumble of a chuckle in male tenors which indicated she was not alone, and it was the scent of rich earth and fresh air that informed her of who her company was exactly. She stretched her magic out, as she had seen Harry do countless times before, to feel for the presence of other magics around her, but could feel no more than the tingling of it in her fingertips. Disappointed but not surprised at her own limitations Su opened her eyes and gave up the thin façade of unconsciousness.

Harry was straddling a chair wearing his school uniform sans tie and robe. Across from him was a girl with flowing blonde hair held in a bun by her wand, which could be none other than Luna Lovegood. She held his right hand in both of hers and was tracing the lines of his palm.

In her best high-arching and lofty voice Luna prophesized, "mauled by starving Hippogriffs." Harry snorted and Luna frowned at his hand as if it had somehow failed her, "Or perhaps cuddled by bunnies, the lines are too similar to, oh wait, that's ink." She tilted her head and shrugged at him, "In any case, I wouldn't visit Albania if I were you."

Without looking at the girl in the bed, Harry turned Luna's wrists until he could cradle her hands in his own. "My turn," he grinned, "unless you feel up to talking, Su."

Stunned, the older Ravenclaw blurted out "I'm sorry!" as she came to a sitting position.

Harry's eyebrows raised and he quirked the corners of his lips in apparent amusement. Luna tapped the inside of his wrist and turned to gaze serenely at the dark-haired girl, "Well that certainly is an interesting way to begin a conversation."

Su felt a blush creeping up the back of her neck and mentally chastised herself for letting these two throw her so off kilter, even after more than five years of friendship. She settled herself by crossing her legs under the bed sheet and smoothing the wrinkles away from them. She looked down at her own fidgeting hands and willed the spreading redness to stop before it consumed her.

Luna gazed at the dark-haired male across from her and spoke in that silent language that most siblings seem to share regardless of bloodlines. He shrugged in response then repositioned his chair so that he was facing Su. The blonde took her cue from him and stood only to sit once more, cross-legged, on the end of her housemate's hospital bed.

"Perhaps we should begin once more, and this time we shall start at the beginning and works outwards towards apologies."

Su nodded solemnly. "I'm sorry," she repeated more sedately.

Harry grinned and touched her on the shoulder, "I thought we agreed to begin properly, Su. And that starts with: How are you feeling?"

She looked at them then, seeing that their faces were open and understanding and not clouded with the disappointment she had feared to find. Luna reached to grasp the smaller girl's hands in her own while Harry squeezed her shoulder once and Su felt the rush of gratitude that came often with their friendship. To Harry and Luna, and indeed to most of their tight-knit group, family always came first.

"I'm alright, I guess." She had meant to keep the answer at that but even as she started it all came tumbling out, "I mean, I'm not injured or physically hurt. I'm more confused, I think. I feel like I'm lost, like I don't know where I am. A little breathless, like the floor was moved under my feet and I wasn't ready for it, and now the world it still tilted slightly to one side," she paused to blink, breath and review what she had just said, "Does that make any sense at all?"

"It probably makes more sense to us than it does to you," Harry offered with a half-smile. Su frowned deeply, not at all comfortable with that response and began to voice her displeasure when Luna stopped her.

"What did you see? When you were in Ronald's head?"

The petite girl released a sigh like steam from kettle, "It's hard to explain. It was things that had happened, but from another spot or with different people and different outcomes." Luna and Harry shared a look over Su's head as the darker Ravenclaw began describing examples of Sirius Black in hiding and Harry Potter in Gryffindor robes. She dropped her head into her hands as Harry moved to sit next to her and slipped a comforting arm around her shoulders. "But the oddest thing was Weasley himself, he was still him, but he wasn't, I don't know, _him_," she gestured weakly to a couple of beds down the row where the boy in question rested.

She groaned at Luna's twitter-like laughter and leaned more heavily into Harry's side, "Even I don't know what I'm saying."

He squeezed her in a brotherly fashion and replied, "It's alright, we won't tell any one."

She grinned into his side and missed the look between her two friends. A thought crossed her mind and Su pulled away, "Am I in trouble? Shouldn't there be a Professor here?"

Luna touched her lightly on the knee, "There will be repercussions, of course. What you did was not exactly safe, nor was it very legal, but the rules in the arena have always been 'nothing someone can't recover from' and there should not be any lasting damage to Ronald, which may be enough to curtail the more severe consequences. Especially if we can convince him not to push this much further. As for a Professor, we have managed to convince the Headmistress to give you until after dinner to adequately recover."

"And you?" she glanced from Luna to Harry, watching him more closely of the two, "Are you upset with me?"

Harry sighed, but took his cue from the blonde, "We're not upset, but you did scare us. I know you and I know you must have had your reasons, but your mind works so much faster than mine that I just haven't caught up yet. You put yourself into a situation where you didn't have anyone to watch your back and I was, well, it scared the hell out me. Just be more careful next time."

She blinked back tears at the concern in his voice and nodded jerkily, throwing her arms around his neck, "I'm sorry."

"I know, now let's get the Madam to check you out and we'll head down to dinner together."

He waved a hand as Madam Pomfrey approached from her office. She nodded once and began shooing at them, "I see our patient is awake. Let me check her over and see if she's well enough to join you for supper."

Harry squeezed once more then released her while Luna leant forward from her seated position to kiss the other girl lightly on the cheek, "We'll wait for you in the hall, Sphinx." And with a final smile at Su and the Matron they walked out the door together.

BCBCBC

_There was a gripping at the back of her robes where Padma Patil figured Su was hiding, but she couldn't seem to feel even the tips of her fingers. "I-" she croaked._

_The six turned to look at each other and silent stare down began. Finally the blonde girl threw up her arms in frustration, "Hi!" she smiled brightly at the two Ravenclaws and stood to greet them. "I'm Hannah Abbot. This is Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger, Gregory Goyle, Harry Potter, and Susan Bones. You're Padma Patil and Su Li, right? Ravenclaw?"_

_The dark-skinned Raven blinked owlishly at the energetic blonde and she could feel Su shaking behind her, but valiantly she swallowed the desire to run very far, very fast._

"_Y-y-yes. I am. And she is. Um, hi?"_

_Harry chuckled and stood up behind his housemate, gently guiding her to the side so that he could offer Padma and Su a quick smile, "Sorry, she gets excited when it comes to meeting new people. I'm Harry."_

_Fingers quaking, she took his offered hand and was almost instantly calmed. Staring in wonder at his hand she felt that there had to be some sort of magic in the touch, "Padma" she rasped. There was a sharp nudge at her back and Padma stepped slightly to the side so that the oriental girl was half-visible, "and this is Su."_

"_Hi, Su," again he reached out to touch her comfortingly on the shoulder and Padma could only watch as the tension seemed to melt from her shoulders. He quirked his lips and both girls were instantly endeared to his boyish grin, "Would you like to join us? We were just studying for Binns' test next week. And Hermione says that if we finishing reviewing that we get extra dessert as dinner."_

_Su snorted in amusement at Hermione's scandalized "Hey!" and quickly hid her mouth behind a bright blush and both hands. Padma grinned for the both of them, "We'd love to."_

BCBCBC

Harry slid heavily into a seated position against the stone wall outside of the Hospital Wing. His light-haired companion stood across from him, watching with unblinking eyes. It was perhaps Luna alone that knew exactly how much Harry had dedicated to the mission at hand.

More than they're adoptive siblings and maybe even more than Daphne.

He slid his fingers through his dark hair and settled his hands on the back of his own neck, pulling down until his forehead rested against his knees. A small chink in near-perfect armor, she reflected.

"How much does this change?"

His voice was muffled, but she had been expecting the question for some time now.

"Nothing," she shrugged. "Everything."

He sighed heavily, "I hate it when you say things like that."

She frowned as she stepped across the hall to kneel in front of him, "I'm sorry, brother, but the possibilities are endless. They have been that way even before the rip. Any small choice could shift the fabric in any number of directions."

He tilted his head back to look her in the eyes, not at all surprised by her proximity, "No, I'm sorry. I'm not upset with you, I know you can't control what you see or don't see. I'm just-"

"You are scared," she drew out the words as thought they were foreign to her, reaching out to touch him. With so many ways that the path of time could diverge, one small step in the wrong direction could be disastrous, they both knew this.

He didn't react even as she slid the pads of her fingers along the worry lines forming around his eyes, "He could help, you know. He may be the tipping point that we have been waiting for."

Harry snorted, but even Luna could tell it was more out of reflex than any real distain for what she had said, "I find it hard to believe that any Ron Weasley could be of aid to us."

BCBCBC

_Harry watched horrified as one of his best friends flinched to just out of his touch, "Hannah?"_

_She was blinking down at his fingers, tears welling in her eyes, "I'm sorry, I just, I can't." She stepped away quickly without turning her back on him._

"_Hannah!" he was shocked and made to follow her but the timid form of his other best friend stopped him. "Don't tell me you're going to run away too, Sue. Please don't tell me you're afraid of me as well."_

_She twisted her neck to look him in the eyes, but could not hold the gaze for long, "Why didn't you tell us you could talk to snakes?"_

"_I didn't think it was that important, that it was that different," he was hurt by their reactions and he knew that it leaked into his voice._

"_But it is, Harry. The way Hannah and I were raised, well, Parseltongue is a mark of evil."_

"_But I'm not evil, Susan! You know me!"_

"_I _do_ know you, Harry," she reached to touch him on the shoulder but pulled back quickly before she could make contact, "and Hannah knows you, too. But you have to understand that you just rocked her world views. You have to give her time to adjust."_

"_And you? Do you need time as well?"_

_She smiled weakly at him, but still looked just passed him, "We'll come back, Harry. Just give us some space."_

_!!_

_Three days without speaking to Hannah and Susan was beginning to take a toll on Harry physically. Sitting at his own table during meals had proven to be painful and even though he had been offered spots at both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor with his other friends he just couldn't seem to find his appetite. _

_Hermione and Padma had worried over his health, but there was little they could do when they were not with him. During classes he had taken to sitting in the back with Su, who, when asked why she wasn't afraid of him like the others, had offered him a half-smile, removed his glasses and touched his cheeks beneath his eyes. _

_Neville was another surprising constant who merely given the reasoning of "you never judged me" and sat with him in the library. _

_As for Greg, Harry had never been given the chance to ask him before his large friend laughed at him, patted him condescendingly on the head and called Harry out for being a child, not a dark wizard._

_But none of that could be substituted for the fact that the rest of the school, and his own house, skirted around him like he was a Horseman of the Apocalypse. Even Gilderoy Lockhart seemed skittish around him._

_Presently Harry sat at his customary table in the back of the library, alone. The Ravenclaws and the Gryffindors were together in a charms lesson and Greg was serving detention with their Defense professor for laughing hysterically at his explanation of how he defeated a horde of goblins in some South American country. _

_He laid his head on the table, finding that without real nourishment he was getting back to being at weak as he was before came to Hogwarts. A body slid noisily into the sat next to him and Harry looked up excitedly, but was disappointed to find a dark-skinned boy in Slytherin robes rather than a blonde or red-headed girl in Hufflepuff black and yellow._

_Dejected, he laid his head back down._

"_Somebody piss in your cornflakes, mate?" the voice was as aristocratic as it could be coming from a boy who hadn't reached puberty yet._

"_No."_

_There was a nudging at his side and when Harry twisted to glare at the interloper he found a bright red apple shoved in his face._

"_You should eat." _

_The Hufflepuff glanced up at him, brow creasing in confusion._

"_You look like shite," the boy shrugged and shook the apple in Harry's face and rubbed his own stomach with his free hand, "Yummy."_

_Harry snorted and bit back a smile, but took the apple anyway._

"_Name's Blaise, by the way, Blaise Zabini," Harry shook the pre-offered hand and swallowed a bite of apple._

BCBCBC

Tracey Davis watched the way her best friend's fingers flitted nervously above the table, tearing restlessly at the roll on her plate. The seats on either side of the duo of Slytherins were usually occupied by Harry and Su, so the girls were slightly isolated from the rest of the group, which, at the moment, suited the light-haired girl just fine.

Daphne had always been fascinating to watch, even when they were children. She proposed such a dichotomy in personality that it had taken years for Tracey to figure her out and even now she wasn't so sure she knew everything there was to know about Daphne Greengrass.

Their friendship had been a long time in the making as it was practically a tradition passed down among their maternal lines. Their mothers had sat side-by-side at the Slytherin table as their mothers had before them and so on. Annaleigh Sommers and Juliet Rindalt had done everything together. They were raised together, Sorted together, married their respective husbands within the same month and were even pregnant with their eldest children at the same time.

To make a short story unnecessarily long, Tracey and Daphne had been nigh inseparable since they were born, thirteen days apart, which is why it was ridiculously easy for Tracey to see through that mask of indifference that her Godfather had worked so hard to instill on her best friend.

She reached across her own plate to fold her hands over Daphne's fidgeting ones and squeezed them to gain the attention she desired. When the dark blue eyes of the girl she had know her entire life finally lifted to meet her own Tracey was only marginally amused by the annoyance she fond there.

Harry was really the only one she liked touching her. Anyone else's hand on her made her feel uncomfortable, even Tracey.

"Yes?" she asked, taking the cue from the way Tracey leant in close to keep her voice at a minimum.

For a second the blonde just looked at her, taking in the darkening circles under her eyes and the bottom lip that was slightly bruised from her worrying it. "Is Harry sick or something?"

Daphne very nearly jerked back, but at the last nanosecond stopped herself to prevent the scene. "What," she hissed, leaning forward to speak even lower, "would possess you to ask me that?"

"You're anxious about something and there are very few people that get that reaction from you." She jerked her head slightly so that the other girl couldn't break the contact, "If it were anything to do with your family, you or my mother would have told me and as far as I'm aware there's nothing wrong with me, which leads me to logically conclude that Harry is the cause of your worry."

They held still for a moment, both trying to figure out who held the power in the conversation. Tracey tried to push more of her own worry into her eyes while the blue-eyed girl attempted to look defiant. "I think you're spending too much time with Ravenclaws," she spat out finally. She tried to pull back but the look that she received in return warned her about that course of action, and after a pause she airily breathed, "He's not sick." A beat later she added, "And I'm not worried."

Tracey felt her lips quirk downward in an almost involuntary manner and pressed her hands tighter around Daphne's still shaking ones, "Please don't insult seventeen years of friendship by attempting to lie to me."

The dark-haired Snake tightened her jaw and forcibly broke eye contact. Her best friend, realizing that she was dangerously toeing a line, released her hands immediately and watched as the girl unconsciously reached up to touch the coin that hung around her neck on a thick black cord. The silver sickle was both an incredibly sweet relic from her and Harry's first date and her biggest tell, as the imprint of the dragon and the moon on either side had been nearly worn away from her caressing it.

"He's not sick," she whispered and Tracey had to strain to hear her over the boisterous laughter of their friends. "But something's off, something's been off for a while." She flicked her eyes around the table and to any outside observer the group was as light as they've always been, but there was a tension that had been building for well over a year.

"That was some pretty powerful magic in Defense today," Tracey commented, trying to offer suggestions for odd behavior, "I didn't think anyone could break the barrier considering how much of each of us went into it. And Snape was acting even queerer than normal."

"He's always been very powerful, especially in the way that he manipulates magic, but he's pushing himself and I don't know why." She watched Draco and Ginny toss insults about lovingly, but noticed the way he was angled to watch the entrance way, "And Snape is finally coming to realize that his godson is part of a real family now and has people that are strong enough and willing to protect him."

She finally turned to look at her lifelong friend once more, "It's a good feeling and he has never had to deal with good feelings before. It takes some accommodating, I assure you."

"You should talk to him."

"I highly doubt I am on the list of people that our esteemed professor would wish to discus his feelings with. In fact, I highly doubt that anyone has a place on such a list," she deadpanned.

Tracey scowled in response, "That not who I meant."

BCBCBC

_Walking passes a statue of a one-eyed hag in a third floor corridor Harry could hear the muffled sobbing of someone who was desperately trying to keep their grief to themselves. He paused, weighing his options, but realized that there really was only one._

_He found her huddled down behind the statue, face folded into her sleeves and shoulders shaking violently. She was small, probably a first-year, with dirty blonde hair twisted up into a messy bun with her wand holding it in place. She looked up as he approached but made no attempt to stop the tears nor try to hide them from him._

_He crouched down in front of her and hesitated for a second before he gently touched her on the shoulder, "Are you alright?"_

_She shook her head in a manner that was both resolute and pitiful and quietly confessed, "I don't know where I am."_

_He frowned as he looked into her bright blue eyes that seemed to look right through him and then to his absolute shock they shifted suddenly to a steely grey color and back. She blinked and tore her gaze from him, looking down in shame. Her shoulders shook once more and slowly she shrunk into herself._

_But she had not tried to pull from his touch and Harry took that the mean something. He straightened slightly from his slumped position and looked around. He was in a free period and had at least an hour before he was to meet his friends from the other houses for lunch, but even if those weren't the circumstances he knew there was really one thing he was going to do._

_So he shrugged off his shoulder bag and scooted into the small alcove, side-by-side with the small blonde girl. He slipped his arm around her shoulders and hugged her in an awkward sideways manner. At first she tensed up and made slight movements to pull away from him, but Harry merely loosened his hold without releasing it. Slowly, and without really thinking about it, he pushed the calming magic from his hands into his whole body._

_She stopped trying to struggle and with a deeply affected sigh melted into his side._

"_I think it's normal," he struggled for words, not used to comforting people. When Susan or Hannah or Hermione were upset they usually just told him what to do. Just sit here. Come back in an hour. Could you bring me my homework? It was easy and he was grateful for the instructions, but this girl seemed unwilling to help him, "I mean I know I was late all the time last year. I don't think the teachers mind all that much if you're a little late, and you know, if you don't make a habit of it."_

_She shook her head drew her knees to her chest, "You don't understand."_

_And there was something in her tone that suggested that it was deeper than getting caught on the wrong moving staircase or taking a shortcut though an abandoned corridor. "I can try," he shrugged, "if you want."_

_Her eyes were closed but the young boy could feel the tendrils of magic stemming from her. He didn't think she was paying any attention to him, but slowly she released her legs and leant further into him, "I knew where I was going and I was in the right place, but no one else was there. Professor Jundo has her class in this corridor, third door on the left passed this statue."_

_He brow furrowed in thought, but could not think of who Professor Jundo was or what she taught. Harry was tempted to ask but she cut him off before he could form the question._

"_Other times it's Professor Feathertop on the fourth floor, left corridor, first door after the tapestry that looks like a polar bear and a flying boar. Or Professor Giles, Andrews, Auror Flack, Domic and so on and so on, and sometimes I forget where I am and where I'm supposed to be and who is supposed to be there, and I just, I just," she sighed once more, sounding defeated, "I just don't know where I am."_

_She glanced at him finally, as if to gage his reaction, but the only thing he could think of was, "Are you even allowed to take all of those courses?"_

_She grinned weakly and in her best serious voice answered, "I think so, because technically they are all the same class. Sort of. They're all Defense, in any manner."_

"_But Lockhart's the Defense professor," he countered, wondering why she had so many professor's for the same class._

"_In this time and place, I suppose, if you can call what he does teaching," she jerked her chin so that he could not see her eyes but he easily recognized the shameful slump of her posture._

"_Oh," he breathed out, not really understanding the implication but definitely relating to the oddity of the semi-confession, "So you see…" and he wasn't sure of how to finish the thought without offending._

"_Yeah," she agreed, sounding bitter, "I See."_

"_Well, that's different right?" he could have smacked himself but figured in for a penny, "I mean, the whole lot of this is weird, you know? Magic and all that. But seeing worlds and people and things that don't actually exist or take place, that's different, right?"_

_She gaped at him, jaw dropping in indignation, but the look of confusion on his face stopped her short. He was merely curious and quite obviously trying not to embarrass her. "Yes, it is different. And it's weird and very freakish."_

_He flinched at her choice of words and she felt sorry for them. "I talk to snakes," he told her in a hushed voice, like she had not already heard the gossip, "That's different, apparently. Is Seeing something like that?"_

"_No," she felt a smile steal across her lips, the first in many months, "seeing worlds and talking to snakes are two very different things. But," she hastened to add at his crestfallen face, "they are both very weird."_

_He grinned at her, struck with a familiar kinship, "Then we'll just have to be weird together, won't we?"_

_She blinked once, feeling tears pool in her eyes once more, but these did not burn and instead filled her with a hope that had previously been unfathomable. "Yes," she agreed, "I suppose we must."_

BCBCBC

Tracey never did get a response from her friend as the white-blonde boy on the other side of the table straightened marginally and the blue-eyed girl immediately swiveled to watch as her Badger boyfriend practically stalked through the arch, shaking his head and hitching Su Li further up onto his back. Su, on the other hand, looked to be laughing so hard that tears were sliding down her face as she commanded the beater to take her to her seat.

He halted behind the two Slytherin girls when the tiny Ravenclaw pulled on the shoulder of his robe and called, "Halt, pony!" amidst her giggles.

Daphne lifted one sculpted eyebrow and Harry rolled his eyes skyward in mock exasperation. "Steed," he corrected in a whiney sort of voice, "and a rather noble one at that, missy."

His girlfriend snorted in a rather unladylike manner and Tracey hid her smirk behind her hands. Harry narrowed his eyes at them playfully, but then furrowed his brow just slightly as he caught Daphne's fingers on the coin around her neck.

"Of course," Su gushed as she tightened her arms and legs around him in a full body hug. "And what a pretty horsie you are!" she babied causing his face to flare up brightly.

She was busy ruffling his hair to the tune of their friends' snickering and Blaise pounding the table in hilarity when said pretty horsie pinched the undersides of her thighs and caused her to shriek. "Steed," he huffed once more.

She smiled softly then. "Thank you, noble steed," she pulled herself to lean over his shoulder and kiss him on the cheek, "Now will you please put me down. I feel like everyone can see up my skirt."

He turned so that she could stand on the bench and set her down but she kept a hand on his shoulder until the slight wooziness passed.

"Not that I don't like seeing people treat you like the pack animal you are, but why exactly are you giving out piggyback rides?" Draco leant back as Ginny took a swipe at him.

"Madam told me to take it easy and not to overexert myself," Su explained, ducking under Tracey's worried gaze.

"Which apparently meant she shouldn't walk the three flights of stairs from the Infirmary and I was offered as means of transportation," Harry continued as he took his seat next to his girlfriend and reached for the water pitcher. He held it in Daphne's direction, offering to refill her glass but she kept her eyes averted and the coin pressed against the hollow of her throat.

"Do we have to sign up for this service, or is it more of a 'first come, first serve' type of thing?" Susan grinned from down the table, unaware of the tension between the couple.

The dark-haired Slytherin quirked an eyebrow at the Badger girl and forced a smirk to her lips that looked genuine, "I should think that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and that no one, save me, will be given rides from my boyfriend from here on out. Isn't that right, dear?" she turned to grin cheekily at him, making the comment into more of a joke than a command, but it didn't take years of knowing her to realize that she was far from kidding.

He ghosted his fingers along the arch of her delicate cheekbone, watching the way her eyes stilled at the touch and strained himself not to frown at the small revelation. Instead he nodded solemnly, "You heard the lady. The Harry Potter Pony Express is officially closed for business."

His friends ribbed him good-naturedly for the next few minutes and the thickness of the group seemed to lessen noticeably when they all could see for themselves that the two members of their party were indeed fine. Ginny turned to look a few seat down from her to ask Luna how she felt about the test earlier in the day, but found her usual seat on Harry's other side empty. "Hey, Harry! Where's Luna?"

Harry blinked up from his cross table discussion with his housemates, his eyes flicked quickly from the empty seat to Draco and then to Hermione. "Good will mission," he grinned. Hermione and Draco glanced at one another over Ginny's confused face and beside him, Daphne slid further into the coolly disaffected mask she used to hide her more obvious emotions, like anger and hurt.

BCBCBC

_Draco stared at the letter in his hands. It had to be a joke. Except that his father never joked. He never even smiled._

_Behind him, at the Ravenclaw table, Blaise Zabini gave an indignant shout which was followed by the loud laughter of several others, including Harry Potter. Harry Potter, who was supposed to quell and wither under the rumor of being Slytherin's Heir. Harry Potter, who was supposed to be alone and miserable, but instead found in himself in the center of a complex web of friendship._

_With people like Blaise Zabini, a Slytherin. The dark-skinned boy had such potential._

_Oh, well. It was wasted now._

_He looked back down at the letter and felt the yawning pit of hopelessness suck at his self-image. Perhaps now his potential was also being wasted._

_!!_

_When the Christmas Holiday came upon him, Harry found himself sitting alone once more. The year before, when Hannah and Susan heard of his rather atrocious family life, they had stayed in the castle with him as a show of solidarity. But with his whole house not speaking to him and all of his friends in other houses having already made plans to be with their families, he found himself alone at the end of the one table set up in the Great Hall. _

_There were several small groups of students on the other end, but no one dare approach him with the loud whisperings of a group of red-headed boys between them and him. _

_With a sigh he put the finishing touches on a letter to Luna and prepared himself not to speak to anyone but professors for the next week and a half. Yet, there was a shuffling of feet as someone nosily set there books down across from him._

_The dark-haired 'Puff blinked up at the shiny blonde head of the Prince of Snakes as he piled breakfast foods onto his plate, but did not look at the other boy. Finally, after taking a long drink of pumpkin juice, he looked up to find Harry Potter watching him with raised eyebrows._

"_What?" he schooled his features._

"_You're sitting with me," Harry pointed out, as if the fact was unknown to the Slytherin, that the boy who had tried to make his own life a living hell for the last year was eating breakfast across the table from him._

_Draco Malfoy took a look down the table, noticing the way all the other students and professors were staring at them, "Did you think I was going to sit with those losers? Why? Am I ruining your reputation?"_

_He blinked, "Not much of a reputation, anymore."_

"_Is it because I'm a Slytherin? Because the way I hear it, you let just about anyone sit with you."_

"_It's not me I'm worried about. Won't your friends be upset when they get back and find out you were sitting with the Boy-Who-Lived?"_

_Draco frowned at the caustic tone and the other boy briefly caught some unnamable emotion pass over his face before a trademark sneer settled like a mask over his eyes and lips, "Maybe I'm looking into finding new friends."_

_The Badger did not understand the statement and would not dare believe that he understood the sentiment, instead he shrugged, "Ok."_

_The blonde's chin jerked in surprise, "Just like that?"_

_Harry smiled weakly, "Guess so."_

"_Are you the Heir of Slytherin?"_

"_Nope. Are you?"_

"_No."_

BCBCBC

Ron moaned when he opened his eyes to the high ceiling of the Hospital Wing for second time that day. He sat up and pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes, muttering "Now I know how Harry feels."

"Oh, I highly doubt that."

The red-head yelped at the unexpected lofty voice on his left side. The wide blue eyes of Luna watched him over the top of a book and on reflex he drew the hospital sheet up to his neck. She lowered the book and Ron immediately recognized the 'and _why_ exactly are you acting like a complete idiot?' look but couldn't seem to reconcile it with Luna Lovegood's normally serene features. "I had not planned on assaulting you," she told him, "So I think that you are quite safe in that aspect."

"I'm sorry," he stuttered out, lowering the sheet when he recognized that it just made him look more like a fool, "you startled me."

"I had assumed as much," in a blink her expression changed to one of amusement and she leant back into her chair, looking as comfortable as she would in her own home. He waited another tic to see if her expression would change to the dreamy and faraway one that he had assumed was as much a part of her as Hermione's frizzy hair and Malfoy's smirk were a part of them, but it never did. She merely contented herself to watching him, watch her.

"Um," he shifted uncomfortably. He leant forward and was almost taken aback by the slight roll stomach he felt, he poked himself in his pudgy belly but stopped at the twittering laughter from Luna. Leaving self examination for when he was alone, Ron tilted closer to the blonde and gestured her forward, "Um, are – are we friends?"

"That is a very difficult question to answer," she rested her elbow on her knee and leant to rest her chin on her curled knuckles.

"It is?" he asked, starting to worry about how many more layers to this world he would have to plow through in order to even think about finding some solid footing.

"Oh, yes," she grinned in a manner that was both pitying and encouraging. "Especially considering that you and I have never met before."

"…I don't understand." He knew where the timeline deviated, as he was the one to cause it, and he knew that he had known Luna since they were children. Right?

"No," she patted him consolingly on the hand, "I don't suppose you do."

BCBCBC

_The morning Hermione was found petrified in a second floor corridor Padma had been in such a state of hysterics that she had to be taken to the Hospital Wing for a Calming Draught and no one could deny the anger in Harry's eyes. There was no way he could have done it, not to Hermione Granger. An apologetic redhead and teary-eyed blonde in Hufflepuff robes approached him in the hall outside of charms. He welcomed them back, as they all knew he would, but a wedge had been driven between them as he was working hard to figure out just who his real friends were._

_The rumors that Harry Potter was the Heir of Slytherin finally slowed to a near trickle and Draco Malfoy began to feel a curious sick-like rolling sensation in his stomach._

BCBCBC

It was more due to Tracey's pointed looks and non too gentle nudging than any sort of maturity that had Daphne agreeing to let Harry walk her to their evening Astronomy class nearly an hour early. Blaise made some lewd remark, as he was wont to do but neither paid him much attention as he was focused on trying to catch her eye and she did everything to avoid it.

The dark-haired girl snatched up her bag before he could carry it for her and Harry shot Tracey a look over her shoulder. Her response was to pantomime talking with her hands and he could do little more than sling his own bag over his shoulder and rush to follow his girlfriend out the open doors.

He caught up to her as she approached the first stair case, "Would you wait up for a second?"

She stilled but did not turn to look at him, and instead crossed her arms across her chest in an almost defensive gesture. He ducked around to her front, trying to catch her gaze to no avail. "Tell me why we're fighting."

She shifted her shoulders, not used to the weight of her bag and grumbled, "We're not fighting."

"Really?" he reached up but to his credit did not touch her when he saw the way she tensed, "'Cause this feels a lot like fighting." He dropped his hands to his side and she clenched her jaw reflexively. She looked up, but just over his shoulder. "You're mad at me."

"I'm not," she replied petulantly, now angry at her self for acting so childishly as well as him for a reason she couldn't actually think of at the moment.

"Then why won't you look at me?" he asked, wanting to know what could have possible changing between the beginning of Defense and now. Being with Daphne had always been a bit like walking a tightrope in a wind tunnel, where sometimes he slipped and sometimes she pushed, but to his knowledge nothing overly dramatic had happened to her so there was really only one other option. "What did I do?" he implored so quietly, so heartbrokenly, that she had to turn to see if he had spoken at all.

He was watching her with those damnable innocent, little-boy eyes that she had fallen in love with. Eyes that she was very nearly defenseless against them, which was precisely the reason she did not want to look at him in the first place.

They stared for a second, stuck in that moment and she could feel that worked-up anger dissipate like smoke in a breeze and all that was left was the hurt that he would keep something from her. Their relationship had taken some hits in the past but they were stronger now than she had ever thought possible. At least that was what she had thought.

She uncrossed her arms and when her shoulders sagged under some imagined weight her bag fell onto the steps with a dull _thunk_. She reached up with her left hand to cup his cheek and with the tips of the fingers of her right she smoothed away that marginally crushed look he was giving her. "You're hiding from me," she accused softly, stepping so that her hips were nearly flush with his front and she could feel with every part of her

His hands twitched in desire to touch her in some way but the searching way that her eyes darted across his face had him holding back, waiting for her okay.

"What are you hiding from me, Harry James? What's going on that you won't tell me?"

His chin jerked as he tried very quickly to look away, but her hands on his face prevented the motion. He averted his eyes and she ducked down this time to catch them. "Don't," she warned and beneath her palms his jaw tightened as tried to control his emotions from her.

For her.

She swallowed heavily, remembering that sweet little boy that wore his heart on his sleeve, who asked her and Tracey to join him and his friends at Hogsmeade. And she stood there, realizing just how much he had changed to become this man who tried to control the emotions that stole across his ever-expressive eyes. He had changed because of her. She knew it was a natural occurrence when you spent so much time with someone, but she had not realized just how much he had changed for her.

He had changed _for _her.

"Don't hide from me," she pleaded, slipping her hands down neck, across his chest and around his waist. She hugged him tightly to herself, tucking her head to where it fit perfectly under his chin and breathed in the fresh scent of him. "Please, don't ever hide from me."

She felt the muscles along his back shift as he raised his arms to hug her back just as tightly. "Ok," he whispered, kissing the top of her head, "Ok."

BCBCBC

_Draco felt his back hit the rough stone wall of the abandoned classroom and the forearm press tightly across his chest just below his neck. For a second he flashed back some years to the worst of his father's tantrums and he felt the fear and helplessness that he had always resented about himself._

_But the eyes that where glaring at him were not the cool grey of Lucius Malfoy, but the raging green of Harry Potter._

"_Do you think I'm stupid, Draco? Did you think I would just accept you and not question your motives? Nobody changes over night!" he repeated Blaise's words of caution_

_The blonde briefly entertained the thought of going for his wand, about fighting back, but realized that he didn't _want_ to fight back. Despite his words, Harry had welcomed him with near open arms. He had defended Draco against the people of both their houses and even Harry's own friends._

_The Hufflepuff had treated him with respect and trusted him as a friend and Draco had betrayed that trust. He felt sick at the thought of it and even the fact that he felt sick made him even more nauseous. He was a Snake, dammit! Ambitious to the point where it didn't matter who he stepped on as long as he got what he wanted in the end._

_He was a Slytherin, wasn't he!_

_Wasn't he?_

_!!_

_With poise that belayed her demeanor the young Ravenclaw helped the Slytherin back to his feet and dusted off the shoulders of his robe. "Such interesting choices you made tonight, Draco Malfoy." Her eyes were a steely grey, which made Draco feel like even though she was looking at him she wasn't really seeing him. "The night is not over, however."_

_He shrugged her hands off. "What more do you want from me. I played my part, now I'm done," he sneered in her face but she did not flinch back and Draco felt a little of his own defense crumble._

"_Your part if far from over, young Snake," she reached for him and gasped his face with both her palms. "Destiny is always intertwined with those that you have surrounded yourself with; that can not be helped. But nothing is written in Stone. There will come a day when paths will be laid before you. You may choose the one that has been paved for you, to follow and obey, or perhaps you will forge one on your own. Or perhaps you will choose something completely different."_

_There were flashes of possibilities across his consciousness and he wretched his face from her hold, "What do you want me to do? Be the hero? Save the girl? I'm not Harry bloody Potter!"_

"_No, you are not. But really, who is?"_

"_What do you want from me?" he asked again, shoulders slumped._

"_What I want is a curious thing indeed. I want you to make a choice, which will happen even if you do nothing."_

_He blinked and glared once more at her, but the gaze lacked any real fire. "I'm going to get kicked out of my own House," the boy informed her._

_She patted him condescendingly on the top of his head, "Good boy."_

BCBCBC

After Madam Pomfrey cleared him, for the second time in less than seven hours, Ron sheepishly followed Luna Lovegood out of the Infirmary. "So you were expecting me?" he asked catching up to her as she neared the western staircase.

She waved a hand in an airy manner, "'Expected' implies a level of certainty that I'm not comfortable applying to this situation. Nevertheless, the increased number of visions and the disastrous turn the war was taking in your time dictated a high probability of your appearance."

He stopped abruptly in the hallway and she took another four steps before she realized that he was no longer with her. She looked at him with her head cocked to one side, "Is something the matter?"

"You're not Luna," he accused. Sure, she had all of Luna's features, but she wasn't _Luna_. There was no way she could be.

"I assure you that I am."

And there was that. The assured talk and the fact that she made sense, well, most of the time. There were no riddles, no made up words, no dreamlike lilt to her voice. No radish earrings or butterbeer cap necklaces.

He waved his hands, "You're not Looney."

"I should hope not."

"That's not," he shook his head and he felt instantly dizzy, "It's not what it sounds like. It was a nickname you had in my world. You were, I mean you still kind of are, a bit shy of a full deck-"

"Thank you?"

"- but you don't act like her. You don't even talk like her!" he was getting hysterical and beginning to hyperventilate. She tried to approach him with her palms up, like you would a frightened animal, but he backed away until he hit the wall.

"I understand that it is hard, but it is good that you are realizing this now, Ronald, before you get too ingrained in this timeline. That girl you knew, the Luna you were raised with was very nearly always alone. Her only friend was Ginny Weasley who withdrew into a diary their first year and did not reappear for some time. These visions we have, the power we know, it affects us in curious ways. Without anyone to help shoulder the burden she would have search for outlets to remind herself of who she was. She had her oddities to secure herself, which you have come to understand as who she was, as I have my siblings."

He slid to a sitting position and shook his head. "You're an only child," he countered weakly.

"Biologically," she agreed, standing alone in the middle of the hall.

He didn't bother acting like he understood. Instead he looked up at her and she was perhaps more shocked than she should have been by the tears in his eyes, "It's all different, isn't it? Everything and everyone I ever knew. Nothing is the same."

And she did not bother faking a smile for him or offering poor sympathetic words, because there was nothing she could do in that moment that could possible make him feel any better.

BCBCBC

_Draco skidded around the corner outside the girl's loo and very nearly slammed into Harry._

"_Harry! I just, I mean, I-"_

_The dark haired boy clasped him on the shoulder and offered a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, "What took you so long?"_

!!

* * *

AN:

Again, I suck. It's been months and I really am sorry. School is atrocious and boys suck and life apparently would stop, no matter how much I wish it would. Good things: my sister (finally) graduated from college! Bad things: my best friend is moving to Arizona for the summer and I won't be seeing the fireworks with him for the first time in four years . My boyfriend and I broke up because I'm pretty sure one of the things we have in common is that we both like boys, which is cool for him, but sucks for me.

Speaking of homosexuals (sort of?) I'm warning you guys now that I do plan on having some characters in same-sex relationships. You can probably spot one or two already if you look hard enough (ok, you don't have to look hard, because I'm not really trying to hide it). I like to think my stories are kind of representative of a whole and I've never been in a group larger than twenty people where everyone was completely straight. I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but yeah, it happens.

Honestly, it's not that big a deal in this story. It actually plays a bigger part in the story I have in my head which is kind of the 'How Harry and Daphne fell in Love' prequel to this one.

What else?

The flashbacks. Some people like them, some people don't. I'm personally a fan, because you know, I write them. But it's more for background, so that people can understand where I'm coming from and a little of how things developed into the way they are. This will probably be the last chapter with a lot of them and from here on out it'll they'll be a lot more sparse and short. Probably.

The nicknames. Ok, not a lot of fans on this one. I actually had this really complex story line in mind for them that I'm probably going to scrap because I don't actually know how I'm going to make them work. Instead their just fun little nicknames between friends. I'll actually explain them in the next chapter, I think. I can't really say because I haven't written it yet. My friends and I rarely use our given names with each other and you should see the contact list in my phone, it's actually really funny.

I think that's it.

Thanks guys.

PS: My MCAT is in the beginning of July and I'm told is a pretty big deal (I'm kind of freaking out about it) and hopefully I'll have something up before then.

GLuvr, any advice?


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